As Shadows Play in the Shape of a Man's Desire
by SinIsAnotherNameForPleasure
Summary: Gaara is the new kid at Konoha High School. There, he meets the number one hyperactive sophomore, Naruto Uzumaki. What are these feelings that the blonde has managed to stir up within him? Sorry, my summaries suck. GaaNaru, ItachiOC and other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am currently negotiating with Kishimoto-ssi for the rights. –turns to Kishimoto and revs up chainsaw- You gonna give me Naruto or will I have to saw the rights out of you?!

Kishimoto: AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

Hey everyone!! This is my very first fanfic on Yay!! Please be gentle and enjoy the sugary goodness. If you don't like yaoi/shounen-ai well, just click that pretty little back button on your screen. Or better yet, stay and be tainted :3

Now, on with the show!! 3

Chapter One: Naruto Uzumaki

It was a blistering hot day, and Gaara was not happy in the least. Oh, he was used to the heat; he was from the desert, after all. He may not have liked it very much, but the heat was the least of his worries.

So what was bothering this red-haired lovely on this sweltering September day? Let's count the reasons:

One: He was in a new school and had absolutely no idea where to go.

Two: His idiotic older brother had brought home a new boy toy last night, so of _course_ there was no sleep to be had in the house. Gaara could be surprisingly cranky when he was deprived of his usual one to two hours of sleepy-bye time.

Three: Temari had started drinking again. Usually Gaara didn't really give a crap, but she had been knocking them back for quite a while and started calling him "Grandpa Raccoon".

Four: …well, there isn't really a fourth reason. He just wasn't in a good mood, all right?

Anyways, Gaara was not in the best of moods. He wandered the halls, searching for the main office and inwardly cursing all of humanity, the heat, his siblings, and most of all, the construction crew and designer of this godforsaken building. Where the hell was the goddamned office…?!

His musings were interrupted by a blur of yellow and orange that crashed right into him, sending him tumbling to the floor. Growling, he opened his eyeliner-ringed eyes and stared up at the ceiling. This day was just getting better and better.

It was a couple of seconds before he realized that something heavy was breathing on top of him. Wincing inwardly as his neck cracked, he lifted his head and stared into a pair of breathtaking blue eyes. Those eyes were stuck in the head of a girl with short blonde hair and whisker-like scars on each cheek. She looked down at Gaara concernedly.

"Hey, hey! Are you alive?" Gaara blinked. That was almost definitely a boy's voice. "Ha! You're alive! That's good! Sorry for crashing into you," chattered the boy (girl? it?) animatedly. He (she? it?) seemed to be perfectly comfortable lying on top of Gaara as he chattered away.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Are you Gaara? The new student??" Slowly, Gaara nodded his head. "Well, that's great!! I was sent by Mr. Hatake to come and make sure you got to the main office OK! What—"

"Can you get off of me?" asked Gaara. At this rate, they were gonna be lying here all day. Naruto squeaked and leapt to his feet, blushing a bit. "I'm sorry about that! I totally forgot that I knocked you down!! So sorry!" He offered his hand to Gaara. "Here, let me help you up."

Gaara ignored the offered hand and got to his feet with one graceful movement. He was slightly startled when Naruto grabbed his hand and started dragging him along the hallways. "Here now, the main office…uhm…it should be right…here!!" He shoved Gaara into the room and smacked his back hard. "Good luck, dude!!! Hopefully we'll have some classes together!!" And with that, Naruto was out of sight. Gaara heard a sigh and a small chuckle. "Has he worn you out already, boy?" asked a lady with light blonde hair and an oversized bosom. Gaara tried not to stare.

"Here's my paperwork," he said in a monotone, handing the lady a sheaf of papers. The busty woman took the papers and twitched slightly – she hated paperwork. Oh well, she'd find some way to trick Yuki or Naruto into doing it for her.

"Good, good, this all seems in order, welcome to Konoha High, blah blah blah," said the woman, settling down into a swivel chair. "I'm the principal of this school, so you'll refer to me as Ms. Tsunade, got it?" Gaara gave a small grunt and Tsunade groaned inwardly. Great, she thought, another Sasuke Uchiha. Only without eyebrows and ten times the eyeliner. Shaking her head, she handed him a sheet of paper. "That's your schedule. And here," she continued, handing him a blue piece of paper, "is a map of the school." She took a black permanent marker and circled her office. "This is where we are now. Just go from here and the rest is easy. Now shoo! Have a good first day." She waved her hand at him, giving a clear dismissal. Gaara stood up silently and left the office, glancing at the map and schedule. First period was…English with Mr. Hatake in Room 251…Mr. Hatake…

Hadn't he heard that name before?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I managed to chainsaw the rights out of Kishimoto's body:D Now all that's left is to escape the cops!! –runs and hides in Akatsuki lair- Naruto's not mine, people.

A/N: OMG on the very first day I got one review several hours after I posted:D thanks to xCanYouHandleThisx for reviewing, I feel special. So now thanks to that wonderful reviewer I'm putting up the second chapter. Maybe more? Who knows.

PS. nightDREAMERms, I got your emails too :D review and feed my plot bunnies, dammit.

Chapter Two: Sophomore Year: A New School With Surprises in Every Person!

_Recap:_

_Gaara stood up silently and left the office, glancing at the map and schedule. First period was…English with Mr. Hatake in Room 251…Mr. Hatake…_

_Hadn't he heard that name before?_

Shrugging it off, he ascended a flight of stairs and stopped in front of the door to Room 251. Putting on his best _don't-touch-look-talk-to-me _face, he opened the door. To his utter dismay, one kid in the class noticed him immediately.

"Hey, it's Gaara!!! Find your way here all right???" Naruto chirruped happily, waving like a maniac. Gaara groaned mentally. Mr. Hatake. Naruto. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Mr. Hatake himself was a tall man in his mid to late twenties, with silver hair that looked as if he had just gotten out of bed. His eyes were oddly mismatched, one a deep gray, the other a shade of crimson. A scar ran from under his eyebrow to the top of his cheekbone, right across his crimson eye. The bottom part of his face was covered with a brown plaid scarf. Gaara stopped dead in his tracks.

_Oh. Hell. No._ He very nearly killed himself at that moment. _Very_ nearly.

"Well, well, hello there, Gaara," said Mr. Hatake pleasantly. His face crinkled in the semblance of a smile and an amused glint appeared in his eye. "I didn't expect to see you again so quickly." Gaara seethed, making a mental note to kill Kankuro when he got home. _That bastard, _he thought. _That fucking bastard…_

Whoooo!!! Flashback Time!! Cookies and green tea for everyone!!

Gaara was reading one of Temari's stupid romance novels, mainly because she had threatened to hit him with her oversize fan if he didn't read more. He had just finished the end of a steamy love scene when the front door burst open and he was thrust right into another one. Loud sounds of making out and things banging against the counters in the kitchen drifted to the living room, where Gaara hunched against the pillows on the couch, trying hard to ignore the sounds of his oversexed older brother and whoever the hell he was with.

Do you remember the old saying, "_There is no rest for the weary"?_

Well, Gaara was the "weary" in this instance.

His brother came in with an older man's arm draped around his waist. "Hey there Gaara!" said Kankuro cheerfully. "Meet Kakashi!"

Kakashi smiled—or at least Gaara thought he did. The lower part of his face was covered by a brown plaid scarf…

End of Flashback…now wasn't that fun?? Moar green tea for the readers!!!

Gaara was seething, although on the outside he still looked expressionless and emotionless. How's that for control??!

"Anyway, there's an empty seat next to Naruto, who I assume you've already met. Why don't you have a seat there?" Mr. Hatake smiled again and turned to the blackboard, completely oblivious to the death glare Gaara was sending his way. The death rays fizzled against Kakashi's back and were instantly swallowed by either his scarf or his happy-happy-joy-joy aura. Gaara growled and took his seat. Already he was in a bad mood, and first period wasn't even half over. Naruto grinned at him, ignoring the waves of hostility rolling off the redhead's skin.

"It's great that we have first period together, huh Gaara??" he asked excitedly. "Do you like English?? Do you like art? Do you like ramen?" Naruto chattered on animatedly while Gaara just blinked at the words carved on the desk.

_Kill me now,_ the words read. Wow. His thoughts exactly.

Gaara strongly suspected the last person to sit beside Naruto had carved out these words. Although he doubted that the aforementioned last person's brother had been screwing the teacher in the front of the classroom. Oh, no. It couldn't be someone else; it just _had_ to be Kankuro, didn't it? His own _brother._ There would definitely be some _words_ had when he got home this afternoon.

Naruto was still babbling on about something unimportant. Gaara glared at the blonde boy. If he squinted hard enough he could almost make out the words "I'm an idiot" scrawled across the boy's forehead. Gaara almost snorted. Then he squinted harder.

Holy shit. There really _were _the words 'I'm an idiot' on the boys' forehead. Without thinking, Gaara pushed back the blonde locks from Naruto's forehead and inspected the words. He blinked. Had he been born like this?

"Wha--? Oh, I see, you're admiring Sasuke's handiwork," said the blonde boy, laughing nervously. Gaara immediately pulled back. "You see, we were fooling around with markers and writing stuff on each other's arms, and then I wrote something on his forehead, so then he wrote on my forehead, only he used a Sharpie." Naruto chuckled and scratched his nose. "I couldn't get it all off without skinning myself, heh."

Gaara could not have looked less interested.

The class passed by in much the same fashion—it seemed that Mr. I'm-Screwing-Your-Older-Brother Hatake didn't actually teach this class, meaning that Gaara was subjected to more chatter from the brainless blonde. He wondered vaguely if maybe the stereotype had been thought up by someone who knew Naruto. (The blonde stereotype, people…in case the author-ess didn't make herself clear.)

When the bell finally rang, Gaara immediately got up and stalked out of class, completely ignoring both the grinning teacher and the chattering blonde next to him.

"Hey hey, what classes do you have next??" asked Naruto, skipping along next to the murderous redhead. Without asking, he tugged the schedule out of Gaara's hand and examined it. "Let's see...first period…oh yay! We have second period together too! Not third though…oh but we have fourth together…and not fifth but we have lunch…and not sixth either…but hey! We end the day together!!! How fun is that??!!" Naruto laughed and whacked Gaara on the back again. "This is great!! We're gonna be best buddies!! Well, after Sasuke and the others, I suppose…or…hm…" Luckily, this train of thought kept Naruto preoccupied and silent during the rest of the walk to the most shit-fit hellhole on the face of this universe, also known as Science.

The teacher was named Orochimaru, and he scared the living shit out of all the students at Konoha High. He was _creepy, _goddammit. Pale, pale skin, long jet black hair, slitted golden eyes, an abnormally long tongue, an obsession with snakes and seemingly pedophiliac personality…you would think this was Michael Jackson in (not so great) disguise. At least Orochimaru didn't grab his balls and dance.

"Well well, I see we have a new student today," he said silkily as Naruto and Gaara walked in together, Naruto still lost in thought. "And he's already made a friend…how sweet." Naruto jolted awake and stared at Orochimaru as if he'd never seen him before. "Sit where you like, Gaara."

Gaara had his eye on a nice seat in the back and went straight for it, sitting down with a sigh. Unfortunately for him, Naruto plunked down next to him. The blonde answered his hostile glare with a grin.

"This is my seat," he explained. "I like sitting alone in class, otherwise I can't concentrate. But you're so quiet it doesn't matter!!! So it's cool, don't worry, I'll be fine with you sitting next to me!" If he was capable of emotion, Gaara probably would have rolled his eyes and scoffed at the boy. Instead, our favorite emo redhead turned his attention to the man (?) in the front of the room.

"Today we will be talking about cellular anatomy," droned Orochimaru. Gaara almost yawned. Bo-ring. The class passed by in relative quiet, until the last five minutes when Orochimaru ordered everyone to pack up. Naruto immediately launched into a long-winded and utterly pointless conversation until the bell rang. To Gaara's intense surprise, Naruto leapt up as if his life depended on getting to his next class. He shouted over his shoulder, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Bye Gaara!! I have Chorus now and I can't be late!!! See you next period!!!" Gaara just stood and walked slowly out the door, on his way to the next class.

_So, Naruto sings?_ he thought idly as he wandered off to his next class, Math. _I'm surprised that his voice doesn't give out from all the talking he does…_

He walked in the door, only to be assaulted by the teacher, Mr. Iruka Umino. And by assaulted, I mean Naruto-style hey-someone-just-walked-into-the-room-I'll-talk-his-ear-off-now assault.

"Hello there, you must be the new student, Gaara," he said cheerfully, shaking Gaara's hand. Gaara merely gave him a cold eyeliner-ringed stare. "It's going to be a great year with you in our class!! I've seen your grades from your previous school, and I doubt you'll have any trouble in this class!! But unfortunately for you and me you won't be in class today! I was wondering if you would be so kind as to deliver these papers to the Chorus teacher??? I was supposed to hand them in to her but it's been a busy first day!! So would you do it for me? I promise you won't miss anything important."

Gaara blinked. My God, this guy was hyper. He wondered vaguely if Iruka was somehow related to Naruto.

"No, I don't mind delivering them for you," said Gaara in his quiet voice. "But I don't see how it would require the whole period…"

"You'll find out when you get to the Chorus room," said Iruka with an amused glint in his eye. He handed Gaara an enormous stack of papers and sent him out with a cheery wave. "Say hello to Naruto for me!!"

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

A/N: OMFG so now you know!! Naruto sings and Kakashi is doing the naughty with Gaara's big brother:D Next chapter: Sing Your Soul Out! A Person's Smile is only Skin Deep?

lol, notice how chapter titles are getting longer? I'm so bad :3 My orichar (OC for those of you who don't speak RoyalFox) Yuki is coming up soon. I promise that she and Gaara will have nothing going on, even if it does seem that way. Strictly GaaNaru! Gaara and Yuki will merely be very close friends.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Still nada on the Naruto owning. But one day, I will have the power.

A/N: Yuki comes in this chapter. Everyone make my orichar feel welcome, 'kay:D Foreshadowing to past dark events, comedy, gayness, and songs from RENT abound. So…would you light my candle?

Chapter Three: Sing Your Soul Out!! A Person's Smile is Only Skin Deep?

_Recap:_

"_No, I don't mind delivering them for you," said Gaara in his quiet voice. "But I don't see how it would require the whole period…"_

"_You'll find out when you get to the Chorus room," said Iruka with an amused glint in his eye. He handed Gaara an enormous stack of papers and sent him out with a cheery wave. "Say hello to Naruto for me!!"_

Gaara almost killed himself again. Back to the blonde, back to his own personal hell on earth. Oh joy and fucking rapture. Setting down the stack of papers on the floor, he glanced at the map. Chorus was…on this floor. However, it was clear on the other side of the school. Whoopee.

Gaara picked up the papers and made his way to the room, occasionally stopping to set down the stack of paper and check the map. He made it and carefully turned the doorknob, focusing on not dropping the huge stack of paper.

A teacher with curly black hair and bright red lipstick was dividing students into groups. She immediately noticed the redhead come into her classroom and strode over to him.

"Ah ha! So you're the new student, Gaara? Well, welcome to Konoha High. I am the Chorus teacher, Ms. Kurenai Yuhi. And who are these from?"

"Mr. Umino," said Gaara quietly. Kurenai sighed and took the stack, staggering a bit from the weight. She set them down in her office and pulled up a chair, plunking it in front of Gaara.

"Well, sit down, sit down!! I'm sure that Iruka warned you about this beforehand," said Kurenai. If Gaara had eyebrows, he would have raised one right now. "I just love showing off my students!! You'll stay right here and listen to their wonderful voices," she commanded, skipping off and barking out orders to the class. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Naruto waving at him like a maniac. Of course he ignored the blonde boy and chose instead to stare at a very interesting speck of dust on the wall.

Kurenai began calling out names, none of which Gaara paid much attention to. He simply sat there and stared at the wall (and any speck of dust on said wall) as the voices washed over him. There was a truly horrible rendition of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", several average performances, and one acceptable "Seasons of Love". However, there was nothing else that stood out. And then…

_I'll always remember_

_It was late afternoon_

_It lasted forever…_

_And ended too soon._

Gaara whipped his head around and spotted a girl with long red-orange hair. Damn, she sounded good. Way better than anyone else he'd heard so far.

_You were all by yourself_

_Staring up at a dark gray sky_

_I was…changed_

_In places no one could find_

_All your feelings so deep inside_

_It was then that I realized _

_That forever was in your eyes…_

_The moment I saw you cry._

There was raucous applause and a loud shout. "Go, Yuki!! You're the best!!"   
The girl, who was obviously Yuki, turned her head and smiled at the blonde who'd made the comment. Naruto, of course. Gaara turned his attention back to the wall, shutting out everyone else. Back to the mediocre singers, he thought…

_And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming_

_Or the moment of truth in your lies…_

Gaara turned towards the person singing. Holy shit. This guy was good too…and then he saw who "this guy" actually was.

_When everything feels like the movies_

_Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive_

_And I don't want the world to see me_

'_Cause I don't think that they'd understand_

_When everything's made to be broken_

_I just want you to know who I am._

Gaara blinked. Naruto…

He never would have guessed that such a beautiful voice could come out of that loud, obnoxious, utterly naïve and innocent boy. What a shock to poor Gaara's system.

There was more loud applause and Yuki returned the favor by shouting "Woot, Naruto!! You're the man!!" Naruto grinned at Yuki and the two linked arms, still standing in the front of the room. Kurenai took a seat among her students and the two faced the class. The air was tense, as if waiting for something. And then Naruto started:

_What'd you forget?_

Yuki grinned and she followed up with:

_Got a light?_

_Naruto: I know you, you're…you're shivering._

_Yuki: It's nothing, they turned off my heat. _

_And I'm just a little weak on my feet._

_Would you light my candle?_

_What are you staring at?_

Back and forth they went, singing and dancing slightly. Gaara recognized the song as "Light My Candle" from the musical-turned-movie RENT, which Kankuro and Temari had forced him to watch over and over again. Needless to say, he found himself enjoying this version a lot more. The class was enraptured too, and every now and again there was a chuckle at the lyrics and a cheer when an extremely hard note was hit. It was obvious that they had done something like this before.

_Yuki: They say that I have the best ass below 14__th__ Street_

_Is it true?_

_Naruto: What?_

_Yuki: You're staring again._

_Naruto: Oh no…I-I mean you do have a nice…I-I mean_

_You look familiar!_

_Yuki: Like your dead girlfriend?_

_Naruto: Only when you smile, but I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else!_

_Yuki: Do you go to the Catscratch Club? That's where I work, I dance._

_Naruto: Yes! They used to tie you up!_

_Yuki: It's a living._

_Naruto: I didn't recognize you without the handcuffs!_

There were shouts of laughter at the last few lines and Gaara almost growled with impatience. Couldn't they shut up so that he could listen to them sing?!

With a couple of minutes to the bell, the duo finished up:

_Naruto: Cold hands…_

_Yuki: Yours too. Big…like my father's._

_You wanna dance?_

_Naruto: With you?_

_Yuki: No. With my father._

_Naruto: I'm Roger.  
Yuki: They call me…they call me…Mimi._

Applause, applause. Wild shouts and cheers. Gaara found himself joining in. Quietly, but joining in nonetheless. Naruto spotted him and exchanged a few words with Yuki. She nodded and the two went over to the redhead boy.

_Oh. Shit. Don't come near me._

"Hey, Gaara!! Did you like our performance??" Naruto laughed. "Yuki and I did a duet in freshman year too. It seemed popular, so we decided to do it again."

"You're Gaara, huh? It's great to meet you," said Yuki, smiling. "Do you sing?"

Gaara shook his head no. Yuki laughed. "Guess you don't talk either. That's all right, I'm used to it."

"Oh right, you're still dating Itachi, aren't you? Almost two years now, right?"

"Yep. You broke up with Sasuke over the summer though, didn't you? I remember the ice cream and the sucky movies you made me watch with you…"

"Yeah…hey!! _Finding Nemo _is not a sucky movie!! It was heartwarming and funny! Especially with the seagulls!!! Mine!!" Yuki burst out laughing; he'd done such a good impression. Gaara, again, raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"Well, you're still best friends, so it's all good. Hey, why don't you and Gaara date? You two would be good for each other!" Gaara sent her a death glare and Naruto blushed and stuttered a bit. The bell rang at that moment and Yuki glided away, leaving Naruto and Gaara in an awkward situation.

"Uhm…shall we go to fourth period, then?" said Naruto shyly. Gaara didn't say anything, but he walked out the door with Naruto in close pursuit. He was stopped momentarily by Yuki as she handed him his backpack and smacked him lightly on the head.

"Don't be blinded by love now!" she chirruped as she sauntered off to her next class. Naruto chuckled as he caught up to Gaara. "Yuki's really funny, isn't she?" he laughed. "It makes it hard to believe that she was an uber outcast at our middle school."

Gaara almost did a double take. There were a lot of un-Gaara-like things that he'd almost been doing lately. In the back of his mind he silently cursed high school.

"Yuki…used to be an outcast?"

"Uh-huh. Me and her both, until around the middle of our last year. It got really bad sometimes, like this one time when…" Naruto trailed off suddenly, apparently not wanting to relive whatever it was that happened. He laughed nervously. "Eh heh heh…well, at any rate, we got out of it OK. And now we've got a shitload of friends, so everything's OK. Plus we've got you now and…" Gaara tuned him out.

Fourth period passed in a haze of blondeness and Gaara spacing out repeatedly. Fifth period was relatively peaceful compared to all the other classes, since the blonde was nowhere in sight.

Unfortunately for Gaara, it was over much too soon and lunch came. To his utmost surprise (NOT) Naruto was waiting for him outside his classroom and grinning from ear to ear.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

A/N: Whew! Chapter Three over and done with. Next is lunch!! And we all know that the important stuff happens at lunch. Sorry if Gaara is kind of OOC, but I'm sure that if he bothered to talk, he would be a very sarcastic kind of person. :D

Did you all like Yuki and Naruto's rendition of "Light My Candle"? I wanted to put something utterly crackful in here, and I happened to be listening to RENT songs while typing. So here's their love child, lmfao.

Next up: Lunchroom Chaos! Teacher-Student Relations and A Meeting of Peers


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Of course I own Naruto. That's why I write fanfiction.

A/N: Lunchroom comedy. You won't find much seriousness here, I promise you. All of that comes next chapter. Itachi makes an appearance, Kisame is briefly mentioned (Kisame lovers beware, you may not like what happens ;D) and Jiraiya reads more porn.

Thank you to all who reviewed!! You all hold a special place in my heart.

Special Thanks to:

Ehwinn – Thank you so much for the fanart!! I love you T/\T

ExplodingChickenOfDoom – The first one to review my story, thank you for your support

Darkness-Ninja-Princess – For noticing the everlasting bond between Sasuke and Naruto

and

PyroD – For waiting eagerly to see how exactly Naruto's song would capture Gaara's heart.

Whew, what a long author's note. Sorry for my ramblings. Read on!!

Chapter Four: Lunchroom Chaos! Teacher-Student Relations and A Meeting of Peers

_Recap:_

_Fourth period passed in a haze of blondeness and Gaara spacing out repeatedly. Fifth period was relatively peaceful compared to all the other classes, since the blonde was nowhere in sight._

_Unfortunately for Gaara, it was over much too soon and lunch came. To his utmost surprise (NOT) Naruto was waiting for him outside his classroom and grinning from ear to ear. _

"HAAAIII there Gaara!!! Did you miss me??" Gaara mentally groaned for what felt like the millionth time and stalked down to the cafeteria, Naruto following him and chattering incessantly. Gaara ground his teeth. If Naruto didn't resemble a fox so much, he would have sworn that his new blonde leech was part golden retriever or something.

Or maybe a combination of all three. (Leech, Fox, Retriever…wahahaha)

Naruto dragged Gaara over to a long, rectangular blue table where a gaggle of teens were already eating and yelling at Choji for eating the last potato chip. Gaara closed his eyes and counted to ten. _Must…not…kill…self…or…Naruto…Must…not….kill…_

"Oi, dobe, who's your new boy toy?" asked an attractive boy with an odd hairstyle that oddly resembled a duck's ass. Naruto gave him the finger and stuck out his tongue childishly.

"Shut the fuck up, teme!! Gaara's my new friend!!"

"He won't be for much longer. I saw you hanging all over him during classes. I'm surprised you haven't talked his ear off yet. If you're not careful he'll fuck your brains out just to shut you up."

"Not a bad idea…" Gaara muttered unintentionally. He clapped one hand over his mouth and blushed a little. Everyone laughed, and even the duck-butt hair guy cracked a smile.

"Come on, Gaara, sit, sit," chirped Yuki, flipping her long red hair out of her face. "We're gonna have a couple more people joining us soon, so it might get a bit cramped…meeeeeep!!"

Yuki toppled out of her seat and the tall, crimson-eyed man that had suddenly appeared behind her smirked ever so slightly.

"Now really, Yuki," he said in a voice as smooth as silk, "such a klutzy young woman…"

"Oh shut the fuck up, Itachi!!" said the girl indignantly, scrambling back into her seat and bopping Naruto on the head for laughing too loudly. "You know full well that you're not supposed to poke my sides!!!

"Why, I was not aware of that fact," said Itachi in a futile attempt to look innocent. He took the empty seat next to Yuki and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I missed you."

"Bullshit," said Yuki lightly, pulling on Itachi's long black hair. "I was with you last night." Gaara coughed lightly into his hand and Yuki glowered at him. There was another collective laugh at the table.

"Don't worry, Naruto, my brother hasn't tainted your Yuki yet. I made sure to camp outside their door to make sure they weren't doing anything naughty."

"Oh, is _that _why you refused to pleasure me last night?" said Yuki in a tone of mock hurt. Itachi took on a somber expression and placed his hand over his heart (black hole?).

"Alas, yes, my darling. I had no wish to allow my brother to witness the intensity of our love. If only he weren't a prying jackass—"

"I hate you," muttered Sasuke as Naruto squirted milk from his nose, giggling like a fool. A blonde girl and a pink-haired one were trying hard to stifle their laughter. A boy with strange, pupil-less lilac eyes suddenly stiffened.

"Uh oh," he muttered, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "I have that feeling again…"

Gaara could feel something too, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was the 'feeling' that the weird eye boy had been talking about. It was oddly green…and shiny…and full of truth….and…

"YOUTHFUL!!!!!!!!!!" shouted a loud voice from behind Yuki. Gaara turned and found himself staring at a boy dressed in an odd green jumpsuit. His black hair was in a bowl cut and his eyes were very round and beady. The boy continued ranting, holding his lunch tray in a firm, truthful grip as he pumped his other fist in the air.

"Such a youthful display of affection!! To think that you have been together for two years and are still as loving as ever!!! To think that such a relationship can exist between a student and a teacher—"

"What?" said Gaara suddenly, interrupting the boy's rant. Green jumpsuit boy stopped talking and stared at the redhead for a few seconds.

"I am so sorry!! I did not realize that we have a beautiful, youthful new student at our lunch table!! Hello my name is Rock Lee!!! You may call me Lee!! And yes, Yuki is a student here!!! Itachi is the Art teacher!!!!"

Gaara tried to ignore all the exclamation points and instead turned to Itachi. "You're the art teacher?"

Itachi smirked and hugged Yuki to his chest. "Yes. And you're Gaara, I presume? I'll be seeing you next period."

"Oh sweet, you have the same Art period that I do!!" squealed Yuki. Gaara again raised a nonexistent eyebrow and looked at his boxed lunch.

"Anyway!" said Naruto once Lee had been seated. "Yuki's sex life or lack thereof aside—(here he was hit on the head by an annoyed Yuki), everyone say hi to Gaara!!"

There was a loud chorus of "Hello" and people started introducing themselves to the redheaded boy. The pink-haired girl who sat across from Lee was Sakura and her blonde friend (or were they rivals?) was Ino. The one with the duck-butt hairstyle was Sasuke, Itachi's little brother. Weird-eyes boy was Neji, and his cousin, who sat across from Naruto and who also had the same lilac eyes, was Hinata. She was very shy and quiet. The one eating large amounts of food was Choji, and the boy sleeping next to him was Shikamaru. Or as Naruto called him, the "lazy ass".

Another boy with red triangle tattoos on his cheeks was introduced as Kiba.

"And this is my boyfriend, Shino!!" said Kiba happily, grabbing a hoodie-clad boy in a half-headlock. Shino, who also wore a turtleneck and sunglasses, didn't respond.

Gaara nodded in acknowledgement to all of them and chatter started up. He caught bits and pieces of the conversation as he nibbled at his cucumber rolls.

"I'm so failing math this year—"

"Hey, Shikamaru, do you want your sandwich or can I have it—"

"Gaara?"

"Oh my god, have you heard? Genma asked Iruka out—"

"No way. I always thought he had it bad for Hayate?"

"Gaara?"

Gaara snapped back to reality. He looked around confusedly and saw Naruto staring at him.

"Do you?"

Gaara blinked. "Do I what?"

"Do you know Mr. Hatake?" the blonde asked. "He said something about not expecting to see you again so soon. What was that all about?"

"Oh," mumbled Gaara. "He, ah, that is…knows my ah, brother."

"Kakashi is screwing your brother Kankuro?" asked Yuki. Gaara choked on his food and an uproar blasted from all sides. Milk and food was squirted out of noses and mouths as a collective "WHAT???!!!" rose up.

"H-how did you know my brother was named Kankuro? Wait, how did you know he was….erm…seeing him?" Gaara's eyes were watering. Luckily, he wore waterproof eyeliner.

"Well, I was sneaking around the teacher's lounge so that I could squirt soy sauce on Kisame," said Yuki, "and I heard Kakashi talking to the vice principal, Jiraiya."

OMJEZUS a freaking Flashback!! Dattebayo!!

Kakashi leaned back on the plush sofa. "Man, I'm beat. I should really take it easy."

"What are you talking about you fool?" asked a man with silvery-white hair and red tattoos on his cheeks. He looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. Blood was dripping out of his nose as he read a book with an orange cover. Yuki stared at him. The vice principal sure was a pervert.

"I had some of the best sex ever last night, that's what, Jiraiya," said Kakashi smugly. Jiraiya looked up from his book, slightly interested.

"Oh?"

"Yes, _oh._ He was a hot piece of ass, too. He's a senior here. Kankuro, the brother of the kid who transferred in today."

"Kankuro? He's been marked down as absent today. What the hell did you _do_ to the poor boy, Kakashi?" Jiraiya smirked and resumed reading his book as Kakashi fell silent, a goofy grin presumably on his face as he reminisced on just what the hell he did to the poor boy. Yuki mimed gagging and snuck off to the marine biology room.

End of Flashback

"Ah ha. So that's why Kankuro chose to skip the first day of school," mused Gaara. He scowled. Naruto stared at him.

"So _did_ you manage to douse Kisame in soy sauce?" asked Itachi mildly, seemingly ignoring the conversation.

"Fifth period," snickered Yuki. "The worst possible time for him, since it's right before lunch and everyone's hungry as hell. And I hung a sign above his head. Everyone practically attacked him."

"Oh? What did the sign say?"

"'Free Sushi'," she answered. Itachi chuckled softly.

"But how in the name of all that is unholy did you manage to do that?" asked Sakura, enraptured by her story.

Yuki waggled her finger at the pink-haired girl. "Trade secret," she said. Everyone laughed.

The bell rang at that moment, and everyone scrambled to throw away their trash and get to their next classes. Yuki grabbed Gaara's hand and pulled him away from the crowd.

"See ya later, Naruto!!" she yelled. The blonde waved in acknowledgement and scampered off. "Hinata, Shikamaru, remember that we're studying in my room tomorrow night!!" The shy girl and the "lazy ass" nodded and went on their way. "Let's go, Gaara, time for art."

Gaara was still in a state of semi-shock at all of this. His first day in this school, and already he was a part of a large group. He had friends. Didn't he? Wasn't all of this what it meant to have friends? Being included, joking around, telling stories?

Was this what it was like to be included?

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

A/N: OMJeezus, what a long chapter of nothingness D: I'm sorry that nothing really happened, and I'm also sorry if I'm going to fast with utterly destroying Gaara's personality, courtesy of Konoha High School. The next chapter has very little, if any, Naruto in it. It's purely Gaara/Yuki friendship time. I promise, they are not a couple!! ItachiYuki all the way!! Plus next chapter is kinda emo and corny, so please bear with me.

I don't like saying this, but please review!! I don't want to pressure anyone but…PLEASE PLEASE FEED MY PLOT BUNNIES THEY ARE NIBBLING MY BRAIN CELLS D: Lolz XD

Next Chapter: Pencils to Paper: How Deep Must You Penetrate A Soul To Understand Its Pain?


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer:

Yuki – She doesn't own Naruto. The author-ess does, however, own me.

Itachi – To a much lesser extent than I, of course. o/w\o

A/N: The chapter names just keep getting longer and longer, don't they…

I apologize to those who wanted and/or expected GaaNaru in this chapter, but please bear with me. Naruto comes up very little, if at all. It's mostly Gaara/Yuki friendship time, but the main point of this chapter is to illustrate (no pun intended) the similarities between Yuki, Gaara, and Naruto. In the roundabout, confusing sort of way that is part of my style. . I hate myself sometimes. ;

Chapter Four: Pencils to Paper: How Deep Must You Penetrate A Soul To Understand Its Pain?

_Recap:_

"_Let's go, Gaara, time for art."_

_Gaara was still in a state of semi-shock at all of this. His first day in this school, and already he was a part of a large group. He had friends. Didn't he? Wasn't all of this what it meant to have friends? Being included, joking around, telling stories?_

_Was this what it was like to be included?_

"La la la," sang Yuki as the trio headed down the hallway. They finally turned the corner and walked into the Art room. Gaara had to admit that he was impressed.

The walls were covered with paintings done by students. Collages, watercolors, acrylics, you name it, it was there. There were a few sculptures around the place, mostly birds. Yuki explained that the pottery teacher had "donated" them to "brighten up" the room. She rolled her eyes and mumbled something about having to check for explosives. Gaara was suitably confused.

"Come on! Sit with me," chirped Yuki brightly, pushing Gaara over to a doodle-covered table in the front. Students started filing in, but Yuki paid them no mind. She was too busy bothering Gaara. Needless to say, he was bloody overjoyed. (Note the author-ess' masterful use of sarcasm there.)

The bell rang and everyone was instantly silent. Well, it would have been absolutely silent, except for a faint ticking noise. Yuki stiffened and swore loudly, jumping out of her seat and running to the sculptures scattered around the room. She put her ear to each one and ran her hands along their surfaces, looking for something. In the space of two minutes, she had a small pile of tiny bombs in her hand. Seething, she stalked out the door and walked next door. Everyone in the classroom waited for the inevitable, and they were not disappointed.

"WHAT THE FUCK DEIDARA!!! STOP PLANTING FUCKING BOMBS IN THE FUCKING SCULPTURES!!! I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF ART IS A FUCKING BANG, IF YOU DON'T STOP THIS I WILL PERSONALLY SHOVE THESE BOMBS DOWN YOUR PANTS AND BLOW YOUR FUCKING BALLS OFF!!!!!!!!!!"

Yuki stomped back into the room just as a small explosion was set off in the other room. A faint cry of "Art is a bang, un!!" was heard just before Yuki slammed the door shut.

Absolute silence.

"Thank you, Yuki," said Itachi dryly. "You may be seated."

"Thank you, Mr. Uchiha," said Yuki. She sat next to Gaara and smiled at him. "Hi there!"

Gaara stared.

"Welcome back to Konoha High, everyone. I trust everyone who was in Art last year will remember me. We have a new student today, Gaara. Make him feel welcome, everyone."

Everyone heard the unspoken "or else" at the end of his sentence.

"Today we'll be doing a special assignment. You will all close your eyes and draw on your paper, without thinking about what you are doing. Halfway into the period I will come around to see how you are doing. During the last twenty minutes you will have time to talk amongst yourselves and do a personality analysis based on each other's artwork. You may begin as soon as you have your materials."

Yuki got two large sheets of paper and placed them on the table, sliding one over to Gaara. He blinked his thanks and got a pencil from his bookbag. Both students closed their eyes and shut out all other noise, retreating far into their minds. Yuki's pencil traced invisible lines in the air above her paper, waiting for her subconscious to take over completely. Gaara had already started, his pencil flying over the paper.

Halfway through, Itachi slowly glided about the aisles, glancing at his student's artwork. He got a slightly troubled look on his face as he passed by Gaara's table, but it quickly evaporated. He sighed.

Ten more minutes ticked by. "All right, class," Itachi said loudly. "That's enough. Partner up and talk _about each other's artwork only._"

Yuki shook her head and yawned widely. She wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye. "Aargh, I feel so tired. Woah, that's really good, Gaara!!"

Gaara had drawn a surreal scene, with dying trees and broken glass littering the barren ground. A dead phoenix lay next to a decaying unicorn, and an impossibly thin, starving human was picking at their corpses. What Yuki supposed was blood was pooling all around the three figures, soaking the ground, dripping down the human's face. Everything was realistically styled. Yuki was impressed.

"Wow…that's so good. You're such a good artist, Gaara!" Gaara said nothing, but simply pulled Yuki's drawing over to him.

Yuki's picture was more of an anime style. There was a woman embracing the moon right in the middle of the picture, crying blood. A small boy was peering up at the onlooker with pupil-less eyes, surrounded by skulls. He had a slight smile on his face. Butterflies dotted the entire portrait. A smiling girl was holding a stuffed rabbit covered in stitches. The rabbit had a nail driven through its head, and in the shadows behind the girl, the Grim Reaper prepared to slice into her with a bloody scythe. A man with innumerable wounds and blood dripping from all over his body stood perfectly straight, his head tilted to the left. He was dead. A teenage boy, slimmer and more feminine, embraced the dead man loosely around the waist. His eyes were bandaged and he appeared to be crying blood.

Gaara said nothing.

"Shall I go first then?" said Yuki cheerfully. "Let's see…from what I can see, you've been through a lot of pain."

Gaara said nothing.

"The dying trees suggest that you never had much of a chance to flourish, that much is apparent. The trees are scraggly and thin, and small. They didn't have a chance."

Yuki paused. "The barren ground also sends a clear message of malnutrition, in a sense. The trees can't grow in this ground, in this environment, and neither could you. The broken glass shows that you're…" Yuki swallowed. "…shattered." There was a very long silence.

"The dead phoenix shows your state of mind." Pause. "Phoenixes are reborn from the ashes every five hundred years. In other words, they represent rebirth, starting over. The fact that this phoenix isn't coming back shows your hopelessness. You don't think that you can start over and make something better of your life. Lack of hope."

Gaara said nothing.

"Unicorns represent purity and innocence. The fact that this is dead means you don't have faith in goodness or purity. And the starving human picking at them…means that you don't have faith in human kindness." Yuki leaned back in her chair, head tilted slightly. "Humans are evil."

Gaara said nothing.

"But then again, what do I know? I'm not in Psychology I yet," laughed Yuki.

"It's a very accurate analysis," said Gaara quietly. Yuki looked at him with sadness in her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

More silence.

"You have a very flexible style," stated Gaara quietly. "Here it's more anime-like," he said, pointing to the small boy and the girl with the rabbit. "And over here," he continued, pointing to the dead man and the woman, "It's still an anime style, but realistic. It shows that you're able to adapt well." He continued, "The woman hugging the moon is crying blood, showing that there's pain that cannot be immediately seen." Naruto's voice drifted unbidden through his mind as an image of a smiling Yuki appeared in his mind's eye.

_It makes it hard to believe that she was an uber outcast at our middle school._

Gaara paused.

"You try to hide the pain you feel by appearing cheerful and shutting it out completely, busying yourself with other things. For example, aesthetically appealing things, such as the moon here. The fact that there are people smiling despite the air of hopelessness and despair in this drawing just confirms it. You're optimistic, or try to be, no matter what."

Yuki said nothing.

"This boy…is he blind?" Yuki nodded ever so slightly. "He's smiling, even though he's blind. He can't see the skulls, the death, around him. And this girl is smiling too, even though Death is right behind her. Her rabbit has been mutilated, but she still holds it tightly. You hold on to memories in the same way, even if they're ones you'd rather forget. Especially the ones you wish you'd forget. You couldn't forget them if you tried."

Yuki said nothing.

"The dead man is standing straight, defiantly, as if to say 'I'm still here, you can't kill me'. You don't ever give up, even when you know you've lost. And the boy here…he shows that you're…lost and confused. Or in denial. He won't admit that the man is dead, so he's bandaged his eyes so he can't' see the blood and the wounds. He refuses to accept that and still holds him close to his body, not wanting to leave."

The bell rang.

Yuki wordlessly scooped up her books and drawing, rolling it up into a scroll and securing it with a rubber band she hand hanging from her wrist. When she got to the door, she looked back at the silent redhead. "Gaara?" There were tears in her eyes.

Gaara stared emotionlessly.

"You should know that if Naruto had done this assignment, he would have drawn something very similar to mine." A small smile, and then Yuki was gone.

Gaara slowly gathered his things and walked to his next class, in a pensive mood. His first day in Konoha High, and already he was confused.

There was a small list of things that Gaara knew for sure:

One: His English teacher was fornicating (shudder) with his older brother.

Two: Naruto was annoying.

Three: Yuki and aforementioned blonde were kickass singers.

Four: He had a headache.

and Five: There was more to Naruto than he let on. A lot more.

"Gaara!! Dinner!!" yelled Temari from the kitchen.

"I'll eat later!" he yelled back from his room. He shut the door and locked it, then crossed the room and stared at the dusky night sky. A shining crescent moon hung from the heavens. He closed his eyes. _That_ night, there had been a crescent moon too…

Gaara shivered and hugged himself tightly. "So that you'd…love me again…love…me…" he whispered over and over. A silent tear escaped and dripped onto his leg, soaking into the soft fabric of his pants.

--xx--

Yuki rinsed her long hair vigorously, massaging her scalp to get all the shampoo out. The shower was steaming hot; it only got this hot when she needed to clear her mind. Still, it wasn't working. Unconsciously, she touched the scar on her shoulder blade, gripping it tightly. The memories wouldn't fade.

--xx--

Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha stared out of their respective windows, absentmindedly staring at the moon and the stars. They stared at the same sky, a long distance apart, sharing the same tragic memories.

--xx--

Naruto lay on his bed, trying to get some sleep. But sleep wouldn't come easy. it was taunting him, just out of his reach. Making him stay awake and reflect on the past, full of regrets and hurt. He shivered, despite the layers and layers of blankets he was piled under. He traced the whisker-like scars on his cheeks and curled up into a ball. Maybe his pain would lull him to sleep, he thought dejectedly.

On that first day back at Konoha High, they each sat in their homes, away from the populace, away from friends, alone with nothing to comfort them but bad memories. They held their pain deep within their hearts, within their souls, locked away in a box that only opened when no one else was there.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

A/N: Oh my god. I hate this chapter with a burning passion. But it's sort of needed, especially the end bit. How else to portray the emotions of Yuki and Gaara? How else to make Gaara realize that Naruto is not made of pure ADHD? How else to give tiny bite-sized pieces of the character's tragic pasts to the readers, like dangling bait off a fishhook? HOW ELSE TO SET THIS MEANINGLESS AND UTTERLY CLICHE'D PLOT IN MOTION???!! HOW ELSE-- -shot shot shot- The next chapter is far better, I promise.

PS. I have no clue how they managed to draw such detailed pictures with their eyes closed. I mean, yeah, they're very sketchy, but they put so MUCH in the damn drawings. They must be kickass artists. Speaking of artists, I had fun making Yuki yell at Deidara XD;;;.

Next chapter: Can I Love Again? A Desert Rose Does Not Prick A Golden Nightingale?

EDIT: I have decided not to update this story until I get a secret number of reviews. I never thought I'd resort to this, but there ya go. Please, PLEASE review, I hate saying it because it sounds like I'm nagging, but I need to know if people like this story and if it's worth it for me to continue. So until that secret number is hit, no updates...and no fluffy GaaNaru.

EDIT#2: Like the stupid dumpling that I am, I didn't know how to enable anonymous reviews. -shoots self- But now they are enabled, so please, please, review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Naruto is mine. NARUTO IS ALL MINE. -gets shot by lawyers and whacked repeatedly by bibles and briefcases- Eh...Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

A/N: FINALLY SOME BOYLOVE!!!!!! OMG OMG So the GaaNaru finally comes into play!!! In a very...shall we say familiar way? Heh heh heh.

I'm sorry to say that I probably won't be updating again for a very long time. No, it's not because I'm fishing for reviews again!!! (Speaking of which, my required number was not met. You guys made me sad :( But moving on) I start school next week and as per the rules of my house, I will not be allowed to whore around willy-nilly on the computer except on the weekends, which cuts down tremendously on the time I have to work on my stories. So I'm very sorry.

Anyway, on with the story:D

Chapter Six: Can I Love Again? A Desert Rose Does Not Prick a Golden Nightingale?

_Recap:_

_On that first day back at Konoha High, they each sat in their homes, away from the populace, away from friends, alone with nothing to comfort them but bad memories. They held their pain deep within their hearts, within their souls, locked away in a box that only opened when no one else was there._

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaraaaaaaaa::heart::" sang Naruto as the redhead walked into the building. He grinned and hugged the boy tightly. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"No," answered the redhead shortly. Naruto was undeterred, however.

"Aww, that's too bad. Maybe you should take a hot bath and go to bed early tonight, that usually helps me when I'm sick or I need to sleep or—"

"That's not it, I'm just an insomniac by nature," cut in Gaara. Naruto tilted his head to the side innocently and Gaara felt something strange stirring up somewhere in his chest; but the feeling passed just as quickly as it had come.

"Well, at any rate, have you seen Sasuke or Yuki anywhere? I've been looking for them for the longest time but I can't seem to find them."

"I just walked into the building, Naruto."

"I know that."

"Well then, how could I possibly have seen them?"

"….that's a good point." Gaara mentally smacked his forehead. My God, this blonde was denser than a troll dipped in mud. Which is pretty damn dense.

The blonde in question was busy scanning the crowd of students, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Suddenly his face split into a wide grin as he grabbed Gaara's arm and pointed. "Look, there's Yuki!! HEY!!! YUKI!!! OVER HERE!!!!!!!!!"

Within a matter of seconds, the redhead had elbowed her way through the sea of kids and smacked Naruto on the back. "Hey there, Naru! Hey, Gaara! What's up?"

As Naruto began to talk about "what was up", Gaara found himself staring relentlessly at the chattering boy. He drank in the sight of his silky, golden hair, his wide, innocent cerulean eyes, his slim figure, his smooth tanned skin. It was only when Naruto turned to wave at someone behind Gaara that the redheaded boy snapped out of his trancelike state. What was wrong with him…?

"Hi Saucegay!!" sang Naruto, waving madly. Sure enough, a boy with a duck-butt haircut appeared from behind Gaara and whacked the blonde squarely on top of the head.

"Don't call me 'Saucegay'" he muttered dangerously. Naruto held his head in his hand, tears springing to his clear eyes.

"Meanie!! Gaara, Saucegay's being mean to me!!" wailed Naruto as he clung to Gaara. The aforementioned redhead blinked once, then twice before gently shoving Naruto away.

"…OK…so?" Naruto gave a gasp of mock surprise. "How could you be so indifferent to my pain?" he said tearfully. He was about to launch into a woeful monologue when a sudden yelp interrupted him. He turned to find Sasuke's older brother with his arms around Yuki's waist, hugging her from behind.

"Mmm…after so long apart, all I get for a greeting is a little yelp? Maybe I've got to show you just how much I love you again…" murmured Itachi, gently kissing Yuki's neck. She squirmed but stopped resisting when he reached an especially sensitive part of Yuki's skin, right on her collarbone where the neck joins with the body. Yuki gave a small groan before stepping on Itachi's foot, making him recoil.

"Save it for after school, weasel boy," teased Yuki, wiggling out of her teacher/lover's grasp. "You work your magic on me this early in the morning, why, I might not be able to make it through the day." Itachi merely smirked and embraced her from behind again, this time making no attempt to kiss her.

Seeing the display of affection caused a brief pang of longing in Gaara's heart. How he had longed for love as a child, how he had believed he had it in his grasp, only to watch it slip painfully away from him, like so many grains of sand in the vast desert he had once called home…

"Gaara? Earth to Gaara!!"

The eyelinered boy was pulled back to the real world by someone shaking him gently by the shoulders. Someone very blonde and with the most gorgeous eyes he had ever seen…

"Are you alright, Gaara? You had me worried for a second, you kind of spaced out a bit there."

As Gaara opened his mouth to say "I'm fine", two things happened at that very moment.

One, someone bumped into Naruto from behind, pushing him forward just a bit.

Two, as his face was already quite close to Gaara's in the first place, the slight push caused him and the redheaded boy to get caught in a liplock.

There was a very, VERY awkward silence as the entire student body (the ones that were in school at the moment, anyway) watched the two boys kiss. The wail of gay babies being born could almost, _almost _be heard. (1)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gaara didn't know what to think. He couldn't think. Time seemed to slow down from the point of lip contact onward. He registered the fact that Naruto's lips were exceptionally soft and warm. It seemed the only rational thought forming in his head at the moment.

As a result of his brain usage (or rather, lack thereof) instinct took over and he deepened the kiss, his tongue skimming over the smaller boy's lip, trying to gain entrance. Naruto gasped a little and Gaara took advantage of this, slipping his tongue into the blonde's mouth. He explored the warm cavern, tasting the boy. Naruto moaned slightly, now kissing the redhead back. Pale fingers wove into strands of gold and Gaara was completely lost now, lost in the moment, lost in their kiss.

The harsh ring of the school bell tore the moment into tiny, bite-sized pieces and the previously awed students hurriedly dispersed, not wanting to be late to homeroom. The only ones left were Sasuke, Yuki, Itachi, and of course Gaara and Naruto. They had broken apart the moment the bell had rung out and were now dealing with their actions in their own way. Naruto's way involved a lot of blushing, stuttering, and twiddling his fingers in a manner that made him eerily resemble Hinata. Gaara simply stood there, blushing lightly and staring at a nonexistent speck on the floor.

"That...was so totally hot," said Yuki. Her voice was slightly muffled, as she was holding her hand over her mouth and nose. A small puddle of bright red lay at her feet. She motioned to Itachi and he pulled a tissue out of his pocket, handing it to her. She took it and pressed it to her nose, instantly staining it red. Sasuke looked at her and sweatdropped.

"Well, at any rate...it wouldn't do for you three to miss class," said Itachi calmly as he scooped Yuki into his arms, bridal style. "Run along now."

"And where exactly are you taking Yuki, Itachi?" asked Sasuke suspiciously.

"The infirmary, of course," said Itachi airily, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world (and if he were anyone other than a H-A-W-T psycho perv then it would be; but since that is not the case, i digress). "Can't you see she's bleeding from the nose?"

"I dogn'd bind ib dere's lods ad lods ob boylub! (I don't mind if there's lots and lots of boylove!)" said Yuki from behind the tissue. She was wearing an insane, yaoi-fangirl crazed smile on her face. This time everyone sweatdropped at her.

"At any rate, I'll see you all at lunch..." Itachi walked off with Yuki, leaving the three adolescent boys alone. Much silence was had.

"A-a-ah, we'll be l-late for homer-room," stammered Naruto, picking up his dropped bookbag and pulling on the other two. Gaara noticed that while Naruto took Sasuke's hand, he was being dragged along by his shirt sleeve. So their kiss had affected the blonde. Very, very profoundly, it seemed.

Things were about to get interesting.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Mr. Uzumaki?"

"Uh...Gaara?"

The class exploded into giggles.

"No, Mr. Uzumaki, the equation for the speed of light is _not _'Gaara'. See me after school on Monday--you have detention for your lack of an attention span." Orochimaru smirked and turned to the blackboard, writing the correct equation in dusty white chalk.

Naruto groaned inwardly. Ever since he'd been kissed by Gaara he'd been spacing out all day. He was constantly thinking about the redhead, about how pale his skin was, the intensity in his jade eyes, his soft, warm lips...

He shook his head vigorously. No, no, no!!! He had to stop spacing out!! What if Orochimaru--

"--asked you a question, Mr. Uzumaki." Naruto stared blankly at his teacher.

"Uh...I don't know, sir." Orochimaru's eye twitched slightly and he strode to Naruto's seat. He gently lifted the boy's chin with one long, pale finger and said in a dangerously silky voice "I think we'll have to extend your detention an extra hour, Mr. Uzumaki."

Naruto groaned inwardly and slammed his head into his desk. Orochimaru smirked and strode smugly to the front of the class. Gaara glanced at the blonde beside him, who had yet to raise his head from the surface of the desk. He faintly hoped the boy hadn't cracked his skull or something.

And yet, who could blame him for his spaciness? That accidental liplock had spun his world out of orbit as well. He couldn't understand it; he was usually cold towards people. Back in Suna, if someone had so much as _breathed _on him too hard he'd beat the shit out of them. He disliked human contact that much. But now someone had kissed him and he hadn't done a single thing! Except maybe space out a bit and reflect on how good that single touch had made him feel...

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and glanced one more time at Naruto, who had finally gotten up and was rubbing a red spot on his forehead woefully.

_No,_ he thought, _it was a one-time thing. A fluke. It'll never happen again..._

_xxxxxxxxxxxx_

A/N: Famous last words. XD

(1) Joke referring to how gay babies are born by the truckload every time there is a long, awkward silence. XDD

You will all LOVE the next two chapters, I can guarantee. When and if I get around to updating them, that is. Prepare for a shitload of insanity, romace and steamy love scenes. Also, more GaaNaru and other odd pairings. Slight pairings, but still, I should warn you.

Spoiler!crack!pairings include, but are not limited to: SaiShika, TemHina, KankuKiba, and NejiYuki. Also prepare for two more OC's to make their debut. :D

Next Chapter: Fakeout or Makeout? Seven Minutes in Heaven, and the Clock Is Ticking (Part One)

Please, please review. It'll make me update much faster than I would have previously.


	7. Chapter 7, Part One

Disclaimer: One day...one day.

A/N: Back from the dead, and pimpin' out behind your couch...yes, peeps, it's the madness known as Sin, ready to rock your socks!!!!! Ahem...so yeah.

Enjoy the slight crack pairings brought on by that vicious hell-sent party game known as 'Spin the Bottle.'

Chapter Seven: Fakeout or Makeout? Seven Minutes In Heaven, And the Clock is Ticking (Part One)

"Today we're all going to my dorm room," annoucned Yuki at lunch. Naruto glanced at her.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. "And isn't this kind of short notice?" Yuki tsked and waggled her finger at the blonde.

"I mean tonight after school, you guys -- and I do mean all of you -- are dragging your asses over to my dorm room so we can have a sleepover. It's a Friday night, so no classes tomorrow. I'm pretty sure we can all fit in somehow if y'all want to crash at my place."

"I wish you'd at least give us some advance notice before you suddenly spring this stuff on us!" said Sakura in a huff. "What if we had something planned for tonight??"

"Do you?"

"No, but...that's not the point!!!!!" Everyone laughed and a few people asked if she needed them to bring anything. Yuki glanced at Chouji and said "Feel free." A lightbulb clicked on above her head and she pointed at Gaara, who was quietly eating a riceball. "You, with the tattoo. Yes, you!" He looked over at her somewhat irritably. "I have a mission for you. Should you choose to accept it, you have my eternal thanks."

Gaara blinked. "No seriously, Gaara, can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Bring your siblings over." He blinked again. Had he just heard her right?

"What?" Yuki huffed.

"I know you heard me. I said, bring your siblings over tonight!! I wanna meet them! Especially Kankuro," she added with a devious twinkle in her eye. "From what Kakashi's said he's a pretty hot piece of a--"

Itachi clapped a hand over her mouth when Gaara's stare turned murderous. "That's quite enough out of you, Yuki." Yuki said something that sounded quite obscene and Itachi smirked. He looked to the redhead and asked "So will you be bringing your brother and sister?"

"...I'll ask them," muttered Gaara. He already knew what they would say, of course -- his siblings were never one to pass up a party, especially that manwhore of a brother of his. He thought of something and asked "Will there be alcohol at this party of yours?" Yuki blinked twice and turned to Itachi.

"I'll see what I can do," said the older man, shrugging slightly and wrapping his arms around the redheaded girl. She giggled and nipped at his ear lovingly.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, Sai is coming too," she said almost apologetically. Naruto yelped loudly and dropped his food.

"SAI???" he almost yelled. "But why?!!"

"He's our friend too!! Just because he's overly friendly--"

"Overly friendly?? Yuki, he tried to feel me up!!! Multiple times!!" Gaara felt a sudden red-hot flash of anger. Yuki waved her hand dismissively.

"Relax, Naruto, there'll be lots of people to distract him from you. Reiji and Ame are coming over, too." Naruto groaned and held his head in his hands. "Hey, cheer up!! If Sai tries anything funny just call me and I'll straighten him out for ya." She laughed and smacked Naruto hard on the back. "It'll be OK, I promise!!"

xxLater that nightxx

"Hey Gaara!" said Yuki cheerfully, opening the door to her dorm. "You must be Kankuro and Temari. Wow, you _are _hot, aren't you?" She winked at the siblings and waved them inside.

Yuki hadn't been lying; her room _was _spacious. It was about the size of a small apartment and sparsely furnished. There was a tiny bathroom, a kitchenette, a low table, and two dressers. A TV and game console were set up in one corner and there were three large bookcases crammed full of novels. A couple of paintings hung on the wall, as well as several anime posters and wall scrolls. The floor was littered in pillows, blankets, and containers of food. It seemed everyone else had arrived before the Sand siblings, and they greeted them enthusiastically. Three older men and two teenage girls who Gaara didn't recognize were lounging about, talking amiably.

"OK!!! Everyone's here so now we can party!!!" announced Yuki in a loud voice. "First off, who's sleeping over tonight??"

Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, Neji, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, and the five unnamed ones raised their hands. Yuki did a quick head count.

"OK, the seventeen of you staying over, in your pajamas!!!! The rest of you..." Yuki looked at TenTen, Lee and Chouji. "...eat something!!!!" There was a mad scramble as seventeen people tried to get into the bathroom so they could change. Sakura made it first and locked the door, calling out taunts to Ino. Yuki shook her head and rummaged about in her drawer, pulling out a tanktop and shorts. Plopping down in the middle of the room, she proceeded to strip down to her bra and panties, much to the chagrin of Itachi, Ino, and basically everyone else in the room who wasn't a pervert (well, Itachi was a pervert, but he doesn't count). One of the men Gaara didn't know (who had an odd resemblence to the Uchiha brothers) whistled and shouted "Striptease for us, Yuki!!"

"Shut the fuck up, Sai," said Yuki easily, slipping on her shorts and tanktop. She unhooked her bra and slipped it off while still managing to keep her (ridiculously nonexistant) chest covered. Thats skillz for ya.

"Ya know, you don't have to get changed in the bathroom, boys," she said, hands on her hips. "I thought you guys were all about flaunting it and to hell with whoever happens to see?"

"We're just trying to be halfway decent," mumbled Shikamaru, who looked like he was falling asleep standing up. "How troublesome."

Once everyone had managed to get into their PJ's successfully, they flopped down on the blanket-lined floor and Yuki made a few introductions. "Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, these are my friends from my hometown, Hoshigakure. Reiji and Ame." Reiji was a tanned girl with short black hair and startlingly green eyes. Ame was petite, cute and blonde, with gray-blue eyes. "This is Deidara, the pottery teacher and Ame's boy toy." She winked at the blonde man, who flushed bright red along with his girlfriend. "And this is Itachi's dear friend Kisame, who's quite cozy with Reiji. He's the marine biology teacher." The slightly blue man grinned, exposing sharp teeth.

"The one you doused in soy sauce?" asked Gaara quietly. Kisame's smile disappeared faster than Naruto eating ramen (which is pretty damn fast). Yuki and Itachi snickered.

"The one and only," she replied. "All right, enough of this, who wants to play Spin the Bottle and get this party started?"

"We need a bottle though," said Temari, absently hugging a pineapple plushie. "Do you have one?" Yuki thought for a moment.

"Well, if anyone wants to drink this sake--"

"HELL YES!!" yelled Temari, swiping the bottle of booze from Yuki's hands. Within the space of two minutes, the liquor was gone and the bottle was placed in the center of the floor. Shikamaru muttered something about troublesome alchoholic women.

"Me first!!" yelled Kiba, spinning the bottle enthusiastically. It spun around and around before finally landing on Hinata.

"A-a-ah," stammered the shy girl, clutching at her lavender pajama pants. Kiba grinned and moved from his spot on the floor, pecking Hinata on the mouth. She flushed about ten different shades of red before taking her turn.

Spin, spin, spin, stop. It landed on Temari.

"Girl on girl!! Whoo!!!" screamed Sai appreciatively. Yuki rolled her eyes. Hinata stumbled over to Temari and hesitated. The blonde girl waited patiently for sixty seconds before pulling the girl over and smooching her on the forehead. Smiling devilishly, she pushed Hinata gently back towards her spot and giggled when she fainted in her cousin's arms.

Spin, spin, spin, stop. Shikamaru.

"Che, how troublesome," he muttered. Temari stood up and pulled Shikamaru to his feet, kissing him gently on the mouth. Somehow this turned into a searing-hot liplock, involving moans and tongues and--

Deidara cleared his throat loudly and the two broke away, blushing almost as bright as Hinata (who had woken up in time to witness them and was out cold once more).

Shikamaru slowly sank back down and spun the sake bottle. It landed on Sai.

"Hey, I got the pineapple," said Sai, winking devilishly. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I got the pervert," retorted the lazy boy. Sai crawled over seductively and placed his hand behind Shikamaru's head, kissing him expertly. He managed to make Shikamaru open his mouth and did a quick exploration with his tounge before pulling back and grinning widely.

"You kiss pretty well for a lazy ass," he said, spinning the bottle. Shikamaru mumbled something that sounded oddly like "sonofabitchwhoremotherfucker".

Naruto gulped audibly. The mouth of the bottle suddenly seemed like a gaping black hole, ready to swallow him into oblivion. And it was pointing right at him.

"Naru-channnnnnnnnn!!" squealed Sai in a very fan-girly way, flouncing over to the blonde and hugging him. "Say, do you still have a penis?"

"Sai!!!!! Don't say things like t--mmph--" The brunette cut off Naruto by crashing his lips into the other's, probing the smaller boy's warm, wet cavern expertly. Naruto let out an involuntary moan and pushed Sai away, a faint blush staining his cheeks.

Spin spin spin--squeal!!!

"OH MY GOD NARUTO OMG OMG YOU GOT MY BOYFRIEND!!!!!" squealed Yuki, jumping up and hugging the confused blonde. "I FINALLY GET TO SEE MY BOYFRIEND MAKE OUT WILDLY WITH ANOTHER GUY!!!" Itachi sighed and rubbed his temples, although he couldn't completely hide the small smile on his face.

"Uh, Yuki, it's only a kiss," pointed out TenTen weakly. Yuki waved her off.

"Details, who needs them? Go for it, Naru!!!" Blushing madly, Naruto stumbled over to Itachi and hesitantly kissed him on the cheek. Itachi gazed at him with smoldering crimson orbs and kissed him right smack on the mouth. Yuki squealed and squished the person closest to her, namely Reiji.

"IT'S BOY LOVE REIJI BOY LOVE!!!!!!" she screamed in the girl's ear. Reiji sweatdropped sightly.

"This is boring," said Kankuro disgustedly. "Let's play something else."

"Like what?" asked Kiba. To tell the truth, he was raring for a little action as well.

"How about Seven Minutes In Heaven?" Deidara splurted his drink out all over Kisame.

"What, un?! You dirty boy, un!!" he said accusingly, pointing at Kankuro. The Sand sibling shrugged.

"It's an amusing game, especially when the people get carried away and start making weird noises." Gaara shook his head. What a pervert...

"OK, I'll go first," said Ame, spinning the empty sake bottle...and almost fainting when it landed on Deidara.

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A/N: CLIFFIE OF DOOM

Please Review!!!!!!!!!! It'll make me update as fast as I can and will make me very happy.

By the way, the two OC's are based off of my best friends, Kaileigh and Susie. Reiji is Susie, Ame is Kaileigh. We love the three main Akatsuki members :D

Bonus!!!!!!: Can anyone guess the song from which the title was inspired? A cookie for those who get it right!!!

Next Chapter: Fakeout or Makeout? Seven Minutes in Heaven, and the Clock is Ticking (Part Two)


	8. Chapter 7, Part Two

Disclaimer: ...you should all know this by now...

A/N: YOSH I AM BACK FROM TEH DEAD :D Ahem...anyway...

This is unrelated, but my ItaNaru oneshot 'At the Black Rose Nightclub' was oddly popular...I was shocked, but in a good way. :D On the other end of the bendy straw, 'The Pursuit of Happyness' hit rock bottom!!!! Only one review! So say bye bye to it--it's just a waste of space. I'll probably change the story of it and re-post it sometime later, to see if people like the revised version.

Enough of my babbling, I now bring you crack. XD

Chapter Eight: Fakeout or Makeout? Seven Minutes In Heaven, and the Clock is Ticking (Part Two)

_Recap: _

_"This is boring," said Kankuro disgustedly. "Let's play something else."_

_"Like what?" asked Kiba. To tell the truth, he was raring for a little action as well._

_"How about Seven Minutes In Heaven?" Deidara splurted his drink out all over Kisame._

_"What, un?! You dirty boy, un!!" he said accusingly, pointing at Kankuro. The Sand sibling shrugged. _

_"It's an amusing game, especially when the people get carried away and start making weird noises." Gaara shook his head. What a pervert..._

_"OK, I'll go first," said Ame, spinning the empty sake bottle...and almost fainting when it landed on Deidara._

"Ame, you lucky girl, go make a man out of DeiDei!" roared Kisame, smacking her hard on the back. She stumbled a bit and walked zombie-like to the closet, Deidara close behind. The door was shut and instantly everyone crowded around.

"How long has it been?" whispered Reiji. Kankuro checked his watch.

"Three minutes, fifty-four seconds." A loud moan escaped the closet and Naruto almost fell over.

"I don't believe this!" he hissed. "I always thought Ame was the only innocent one out of all of us!!" Sasuke smirked.

"Looks can be decieving, dobe." Naruto pouted cutely and Gaara felt a strange sensation stir in his stomach.

The closet door opened and out came a very dishevled looking Ame, who was blushing furiously. Deidara followed close behind, looking equally dishevled but quite content.

"That was only five minutes and thirty-three seconds!" said Kiba indignantly. And you didn't make out until almost four minutes into it!!!

"Correction; you didn't _hear _us making out until four minutes into it, un," said Deidara smugly. Kiba's mouth dropped open and Ame hid behind Hinata shyly.

"At any rate, who's next?" said Temari, eager to get on with the game. Kiba, Temari and Lee wanted to go next, so a quick game of rock-paper-scissors decided. Kiba whooped.

"Sweet!! Finally some action!!" he yelled, spinning the sake bottle hard. Around and around and around and around and around...

"Nice catch, Kankuro!!" laughed Temari, slapping her younger brother hard on the back. "Go get 'im, tiger!" The two perverted brunettes grinned ferally at each other and slammed the closet door behind them. Loud bangings and moans were heard almost immediately and Ino rolled her eyes.

"So much for foreplay," she muttered as the groans and lusty moans continued. Sai was practically drooling, imagining all the dirty things the two were doing; and various people (namely Kisame and Yuki) were giggling madly.

Seven and a half hot and steamy minutes later, Kiba and Kankuro emerged, both looking extremely happy and windswept. Yuki sniffed the air delicately.

"You two smell like sex," she said bluntly. Kankuro smiled sheepishly.

"What can I say?"

"Don't say anything," warned TenTen. "She'll probably make a doujinshi out of this if you do." Yuki smiled craftily and spun the sake bottle.

"Uh..." Never in all his life had the Hyuuga male said anything so ineloquent in his life. Until now, with the mouth of the sake bottle pointing straight at him.

"C'mon, big boy, our turn in 'Heaven'!!" giggled Yuki giddily, skipping over to the closet. Neji cast a surreptitious glance at Itachi, who caught it and smirked, nodding his head towards Yuki. Neji slowy walked to the closet of doom and gently shut the door.

"Wow, Itachi, I would have thought you'd kill Neji before letting him touch your girlfriend," said Ame in awe. Itachi shrugged.

"It's all in good fun. I trust Yuki." Kiba, Kankuro and Temari were all listening in on the silent closet.

"I think I heard a moan," said Kiba, pressing his ear harder against the door. "It sounded like Yuki."

"How do you know how Yuki sounds when she moans?" asked Sasuke a little suspiciously.

"C'mon, that brother of yours molests her in front of us enough. Of course we'd recognize her moan. Now shut up, I can't hear anything."

"Dude, what is Yuki doing?" asked Temari in awe. "Did you guys hear that?" The two boys nodded.

"What?" asked Itachi disinterestedly.

"Neji just moaned her name so loudly," said Temari, grinning. Itachi said nothing but strode over to the closet and yanked the door open.

Yuki stopped kissing Neji long enough to grin at her boyfriend craftily. "Miss me?" she asked.

"What did you do that made Neji say your name so loudly?" Itachi said bluntly. Neji turned an attractive shade of pink and Yuki giggled.

"Let's just say that he's very sensitive to touch in his chest area," said Yuki, pulling the strap of her tank top up from where it had slipped down her shoulder. Neji took his revenge and poked Yuki hard in her side. She fell to the ground with a squeal and a loud _thump_ and lay on the floor, twitching slightly. Itachi sighed and smiled, picking up his girlfriend and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes (I doubt Itachi's ever picked up a sack of potatoes in his life, but that's besides the point).

"It's Naruto's turn now," declared Lee, pushing the blonde towards the sake bottle of doom.

"Where did you get that idea, Lee?" asked the blonde boy indignantly.

"Because you are eternally youthful and you deserve a chance at 'Heaven', yosh!" exclaimed the energetic boy. "Now spin!!!!" Naruto rolled his eyes and spun the bottle...

Awkward silence.

Gay babies.

A fox...and a tanuki.

The bottle was pointing right at Gaara.

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A/N: Eh...short chapter? I'm sorry TT

But it all gets made up in the next chapter!!! GAANARU LOVINS

What do you get when you cross a fox and a tanuki? I'll tell you what...two hot anime boys smexin' each other up in an OC's closet.

Now excuse me while I go have a massive nosebleed in my bathroom; blood takes a hella long time to come out of carpet.

Next Chapter: Fakeout or Makeout? Seven Minutes in Heaven, and the Clock is Ticking (Part Three)


	9. Chapter 7, Part Three

Disclaimer: ...you should all know this by now...

A/N: I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE

We've finally gotten to the good part now...I know that a lot of you have been waiting for this. GaaNaru smexins:D I hope I did a good job, I've never really written smut before...

Also, I am thinking of making my ItaNaru oneshot 'At the Black Rose Nightclub' into a twoshot! Which means the second chapter will pick up where the last one left off. Which means it'll be nothing but ItaNaru smut. But I won't do it unless people want me to, so review and tell me what you want!

Please read and review my new Harry Potter story 'Of Parseltongues and Paper Cranes'. I need to know if people like it so I can continue it.

Have fun reading teh hawtness :D

Chapter Seven: Fakeout or Makeout? Seven Minutes In Heaven, And the Clock is Ticking (Part Three)

_Recap: _

_"It's Naruto's turn now," declared Lee, pushing the blonde towards the sake bottle of doom. _

_"Where did you get that idea, Lee?" asked the blonde boy indignantly._

_"Because you are eternally youthful and you deserve a chance at 'Heaven', yosh!" exclaimed the energetic boy. "Now spin!!!!" Naruto rolled his eyes and spun the bottle..._

_Awkward silence._

_Gay babies._

_A fox...and a tanuki._

_The bottle was pointing right at Gaara._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxGaara's POVxx

I never imagined that I would have friends, nor have I ever thought that I would be at a party with aforementioned friends. I never thought I would hear my brother making out with another man not ten feet away from me (although once he almost did).

I certainly never imagined I would be forced into a closet with my annoying blonde friend that I enjoy kissing.

...Wait, did I just think that?

Shit.

Naruto was fidgeting, and although the closet was dark, in my mind I knew he was blushing about ten different shades of pink. Well, this would be very entertaining. Seven fun-filled minutes jam-packed with awkward silence, fidgeting uncomfortably, and getting poked in the back with the sharp edge of a cardboard box.

Joy and fucking rapture.

"Ahh, uhm, Gaara, we don't have to stay in here," the blonde whispered to me. "Or we could just stay here for a while and not do anything, then come out and say we made out..."

I didn't say anything. I saw no reason to (actually, I wasn't seeing much of anything; didn't this closet have a damn light?). But why was I suddenly feeling slightly depressed that we weren't going to make out after all?

"Gaara? Are you there? Gaa--!!!!!!" Naruto stumbled forward, landing right on top of me. My brain seemed to shut down--I couldn't think of anything except kissing, touching, ravishing every part of Naruto I could touch...

I gently explored his face with my fingers, seeking out his lips. I finally found them and lowered my face to his, kissing him urgently. He immediately responded, albeit timidly. I pushed him down and began undoing the buttons of his pajama shirt, never breaking the kiss. He squirmed underneath me, accidentally brushing my lower region. I think that's when I started to lose myself.

Third-Person POV

"Gaara? Are you there? Gaa--!!!!!!" Naruto stumbled forward, landing awkwardly on top of the redhead. His pale fingers quickly ghosted up and felt Naruto's face, locating his slightly parted lips. Their mouths met and Naruto began to respond to Gaara's kiss. He whimpered as he felt cool fingers undoing the buttons of his shirt and he squirmed, his stomach grazing something semi-hard. Gaara's touches immediately became rougher, faster. Before he knew it, Naruto's shirt was completely off (as was Gaara's) and something hard was poking his thigh.

"Aaahh...G-Gaara..." he choked out, his face flushed and giving off enough heat to boil water. The redhead chose to ignore him and instead began teasing him, trailing a hot, moist path down his neck with his tongue and sucking lightly on an especially sensitive part of Naruto's neck. The boy moaned and squirmed underneath Gaara, figting him off halfheartedly. But Gaara wasn't having any of that; grabbing Naruto's wrists in one hand, he pinned them to the wall and continued his assault on the blonde's skin.

"Shut up, Naruto," whispered Gaara huskily, taking Naruto's left nipple in his mouth and sucking gently. Needless to say, Naruto was unable to form anything resembing coherent words. Bodies moved in rhythm, hands trailed over heated flesh, clothes lay forgotten in a heap. Gaara traced the swirly tattoo on Naruto's stomach delicately with his tongue, moving lower and lower until...

...the door opened.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The two boys froze immediately like deer in the headlights. But nothing would save them from...

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

...yaoi fangirls/boys.

"That is so hot!"

"My little brother!"

"Do you have a tissue? I don't want to get blood all over the place."

"My little Naru-chan is all grown up!"

"BOY LOVE REIJI BOY LOVE!!!!!!!!"

"W-w-what the hell--why did you open the door???!!" Naruto stuttered, hurriedly trying to hide the fact that he was wearing only his boxers and had been enjoying himself quite a bit during his time in "Heaven".

"Dude, you were in there for like ten minutes," said Kiba, grinning devilishly. "We thought you'd died or something."

"But I see my little brother's been taking good care of you," said Kankuro, winking suggestively. Naruto flushed and stammered something incoherent while Gaara calmly put his clothes back on. Yuki had finally fainted from blood loss and a near-fatal mental breakdown, Hinata was practically in a coma from all the smut, Sai was drooling and already working on the art for Icha Icha Paradise Yaoi Edition, and various fangirls were passed out on the floor in pools of their own blood. Naruto and Gaara caught each other's eye and looked away quickly, each with a blush and a small smile on their face.

All in all, the party was a success.

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A/N: Was this short? Terribly sorry. I think it's a shorter chapter than normal...oh well.

I hope I didn't disappoint, a lot of you were waiting for this...I tried to make it relatively PG since I'm paranoid about my parents finding this and also because I didn't want to violate the Teen rating...

Please review:D

Next Chapter: Planning A Festival! Konoha High's Most Popular Event


	10. Chapter 8

A/N: I'm alive!!! Woohoo!! A small gift as we head into the new year. You probably all hate me since I haven't updated in god knows how long. You'll probably hate me more because after all that waiting, I churned out this piece of shit. I'm terribly sorry, but let the story commence :3 I'll try to be quicker with the updates in '08!!! Thank you to all who read and most of all, to those who review!! On with the show!!

Heads up!: Slight smut warning.

Chapter Eight: Planning a Festival! Konoha High's Most Popular Event

It was Monday once more, much to the chagrin of the Konoha High student body. In particular, a certain group of students hereby dubbed as Naruto and Co. Yuki's party had carried over well into Sunday and they were sure feeling the effects of it now.

Gaara wondered if this was what jetlag felt like. His head was pounding and his heart was thumping and his eyes felt like bricks doused in mud. Oh if he could only sleep through this wretched class...no, through this wretched _day..._

But of course if he succumbed to sleep he'd have nothing but thoughts of _that_.

His _initiation..._

Into the Suicide Squad of Konoha High School.

Yuki's gang of "well-mannered delinquents".

Gaara groaned inwardly as his mind ignored his frantic requests and replayed _that memory_ in vivid color and surround-sound...

xx//.Flashback.\\xx

"Well, that little display of romance gave me a wonderful idea," said Yuki confidently. The few people not sleeping over had gone by this point, and the party was still going full blast. Gaara wondered again why he was here, and why Yuki had chosen to go up to him and announce her great idea.

The girl flipped her long red hair over her shoulder and grinned slyly. "Of course you realize that by hanging with OUR crowd, you've beome a member of our group. HOWEVER," she said loudly with many hand guestures and arm-waving, attracting the attention of most of the crowd, "there is one final step you must take before you can officially become a member of the Suicide Squad of Konoha High."

Gaara blinked a couple of times. "Suicide...Squad?"

Yuki nodded excitedly. "Uh-huh! That's our name. We're all well-mannered delinquents." The oxymoronicness of the statement made a slight whistling noise as it flew right over her head. Gaara just blinked some more.

Yuki yelled over the hubbub assertively. "Reiji, Ame, Sakura, Ino, Temari!! Move your asses! We're going to plan out Gaara's initiation in the kitchen!!!" The six girls practically flew across the room huddled in the small kitchenette, giggling every so often as they plotted their evil schemes.

Gaara had never been so scared in his life.

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"On this night we pray to you, oh Lord Erica and all things yaoilicious, to accept this lost wandering soul into your not-so-welcoming arms, into the Suicide Squad of Konoha High, into Hell. On this night we pray, Amen."

Everyone stared as Yuki, Reiji and Ame completed this weird chant while waving incense over Gaara's head. Gaara himself was silently cursing himself for ever befriending Naruto, or Yuki, or anyone else with any sort of affiliation with "well-mannered delinquents".

"In order for you to be properly inaugurated into our squad, you have to do a dare." Yuki grinned slyly at the eyeliner-ed boy. "Refusal to do so results in immediate termination."

Gaara gulped inaudibly.

"And we have issued you this dare thus!!" said Yuki in an overly loud voice, pointing her index finger to the ceiling. She grinned and brought her hand down majestically, pointing authoritatively at the eyeliner-ed redhead.

"You must lick whipped cream...off of Uzumaki Naruto."

Never had there been such a silence as the one that graced Yuki's spacious room that night. All the awkwardness in the universe seemed to have converged on that one spot, so thickly concentrated that they were practically swimming in it.

The silence was shattered by a scream, a _thud_, and stuttering.

Kankuro, Hinata, and Naruto, respectively.

"There goes Hinata," observed Temari, giggling under the influence of sake as Neji attempted to revive his cousin.

"Urrrrrrgh!! No way do I want to picture my baby brother doing such kinky things!" yelled Kankuro, holding his head in his hands.

_Hypocrite,_ thought everyone as they sweatdropped collectively.

"B-b-b-ut, w-why m-m-m-me?" asked Naruto, sounding oddly like Hinata.

"Don't worry, Naruto, you won't have to perform in front of us," grinned Yuki, looking for all the world like the epitome of innocence. You know, aside from that glint in her eyes who afforded all who looked closely a glimpse of the fiery pits of hell. The blonde gulped. "You'll use my bedroom. Alpha Squad, subdue 'im!"

Sakura and Reiji immediately held Naruto in place from behind. "Beta Squad, strip him. Delta Squad, cream him." Ino all but ripped off Naruto's shirt; Temari and Ame, giggling like schoolgirls, smothered his chest in whipped cream. Ame went so far as to draw a cat on his chest, using one pale pink nipple as the 'nose'. Temari had such a giggling fit that she began to hiccup uncontrollably.

"All right, in you go. Let's go! Shoo shoo!" Yuki pushed the red-headed male into her bedroom, Naruto being shoved in right after. She locked the door and cackled wildly, grabbing the remote control and turning on the TV.

Kiba gaped.

"You have CAMERAS in your ROOM???" he whispered as loudly as he could. Yuki snickered.

"I installed them today and hooked them up to the TV. It wasn't hard." She reclined on the soft floor pillows languidly. "Relax, and enjoy the show."

xx//.End Flashback.\\xx

Gaara groaned inwardly as the heated moans and groans permeated every corner of his mind; he could almost feel the sensation of his tongue skating across flesh, picking up sweet whipped cream, going back for more. How Naruto had arched his back so fiercely Gaara thought his back would snap, the straining in their pants, the heated kisses and lovebites.

He did a very un-Gaara like thing and dropped his head onto his desk with a loud THUNK.

"Ahem." Iruka, their homeroom teacher, cleared his throat awkwardly, not used to having such a quiet homeroom. "I'm now, uh, passing out these flyers for the Konoha High festival. It's not for months, but advance planning is important as we build the fest depending on the interests of the student body..." His speech was lost in a sea of voices as the class suddenly awakened, chatting excitedly about their ideas for the festivities. Iruka sighed and just passed out the papers without finishing his sermon.

"This is great, Gaara!! Your very first Konoha High Fest, and you get to spend it with us!!" Naruto immediately popped up beside Gaara, face alight with joy. The rest of them gathered round, talking loudly.

"What's all the fuss about, anyway?" muttered Gaara, staring at the pale pink flyer ornately decorated and lettered with festive motifs. "Is it really such a big deal?"

"Of course!" said Yuki, violet eyes wide. "The Konoha High Fest is the most popular and most important event in the entire school, even more important than senior graduation!" The others murmured their agreement. "Statistics show that no less than ninety-five percent of the student population have attended in the past, with ninety-seven percent being the highest. We're aiming for ninety-nine this year, so if you don't come I swear I'll wring your neck." Yuki flashed the prettiest smile as she said that last sentence, sending chills up everyone's spine. Naruto chuckled nervously and skootched closer to Gaara.

"It really won't be as much fun without you," he whispered into the redhead's ear. "You'll come, won't you?"

Gaara suppressed a blush as Naruto's warm breath tickled his ear. "I guess," he said tonelessly. Naruto squealed and hugged him briefly before realizing the awkwardness of the situation and retreating hastily. Yuki had a very self-satisfied look on her face.

The rest of the day passed in a very uneventful fashion, save for Science class, when Orochimaru silkily reminded Naruto of his detention later that day. Yuki did her best to reassure her friend.

"I've got all the teacher's schedules memorized, including that creep Pedomaru," she stated confidently at lunch, using the nickname over eighty percent of the student body used for the creepy teacher. "He's going to step out of his room for exactly ten minutes to fetch his food and warm it up in the teachers lounge. That's just enough time for me to rig hidden cameras everywhere. I can make it so that we get a live stream straight to my cell phone. We'll be stationed outside the door, so if he tries any funny business, we'll storm in like a high school SWAT team."

Naruto groaned, but smiled weakly nonetheless. "Thanks, Yuki."

"Gaara, Kiba, Shikamaru, um...Sasuke, Shino. You're my team. Kiba and Shikamaru will provide technical assistance, Gaara will watch the halls, and Sasuke and Shino will monitor the teacher's lounge. You've all got your cell phones, right? Good. Here are your headsets." For some inexplicable reason there was a shitload of wires and top-notch technology stuffed into her backpack, which was shaped like a bear. She handed everyone a headset and switched on her cell, motioning for everyone else to do the same. "All right, let's move out."

Naruto stared after them helplessly as they stormed out of the cafeteria, a strange sinking feeling in his stomach. Somehow he got the notion that his detention would be very eventful indeed.

And not in a good way.

Not at all.

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A/N: Erica is our friend, who is also God herself. -is smited-

Well, that's a wrap. The next chapter is full of angst and horrible cliche's, I do hope you'll forgive me.

Next Chapter: Mission Impossible: Rescue the Boy, Heal His Soul

Reviews, please T.T They make me feel loved.


	11. Chapter 9

A/N: I'M NOT DEAD

I'm really sorry about the late late LATE update!!! You see, I have an excuse! -shot- Chapter Nine (this chapter) was mostly typed up and nicely done, ready to be served on a silver platter to you all, and somehow it was deleted just as I was about to finish it. Disheartened, I sulked in a corner until I finally got the willpower to ignore my homework and the fact that it is FCAT week and set about rewriting a rough draft of the chapter in a composition notebook. Again, I'm very sorry.

Remember when updates used to be frequent and the story was actually good? Yeah...me too. The good old days...

Enough blabbing.

Chapter Nine: Mission Impossible: A Smile Is Different From What Lurks Inside Your Heart

Naruto stood outside Orochimaru's door, praying fervently to any and all gods that someting, anything, could prevent him from serving out his detention with his creepy excuse for a science teacher. It was true that Yuki had claimed to have taken care of things, and she was usually reliable for things that were of utmost importance, but still...

He was getting a bad feeling about the entire situation.

Heedless of his mind screaming for him to bolt, Naruto knocked as softly as humanely possible, willing Orochimaru to be elsewhere, anywhere in the universe, except for this one room...

"Come in, Mr. Uzumaki," replied a silky voice, making a violent shudder course through the blonde's body. Naruto hesitantly opened the classroom door, suppressing another tremor as he locked eyes with his teacher. The door clicked shut and Naruto knew why. It was locked. Orochimaru smirked.

"Welcome to detention, Naruto." The pedo may as well have said "Welcome to hell," and turned into Lucifer himself, because Naruto could not have looked more terrified. He'd rather be anywhere but here. He'd rather be in hell, actually, with Lucifer staring him down. The real thing would not be half as scary as the pale man before him. Anywhere, anywhere but here, in a tiny classroom, trapped with the snake.

Meanwhile, while Naruto is internalizing his suffering, Yuki is poking her head out from around a corner, a look of complete concentration on her face as she hummed. Kiba and Shikamaru were following suit, watching intensely for teachers and/or students that might interrupt their plan. Well, kinda. Kiba was fast growing bored at the lack of action, and Shikamaru, lazy ass that he was, was just dozing standing up. The three "well-mannered delinquents" had spent the past hour or so ninja-leaping about the place, humming the Mission Impossible and James Bond themes intermittently and double-checking the status of the hidden cameras that had been oh-so-cleverly installed in Orochimaru's ceiling. So maybe this time Shikamaru actually had a good reason for falling asleep on the job, but now isn't the time to analyze a bum's excuses for slacking. There's drama to be had.

Sasuke, Shino, and Gaara strode up the hall, greeting Yuki and the others silently before giving out information on their specific "missions".

"I blew up the principal's curry so that she'll have to stay here for a while," said Sasuke uninterestedly.

"I offered Iruka help on grading his papers to convince him to stay, then abandoned him by saying I had to ask the vice principal something important," said Gaara in a monotone.

"..." said Shino, which roughly translated to "I stashed porn in Jiraiya's office to keep him there indefinitely."

"Excellent," gloated Yuki as Kiba gave Shino a congratulatory kiss on the nose. "Now all we do is wait until something criminal happens, and then BAM! we storm the classroom."

"Just pay attention to the damn cell phone so we don't miss anything," grumbled Sasuke. Yuki rolled her eyes and flipped up her cell phone screen, recoiling a little as Orochimaru's face loomed large on the miniature screen. The picture fizzled and died a second later. Yuki grinned. "Perfect, he found the decoy. Now he'll either be too wary to try anything funny or he'll get arrogant and won't bother to check for another camera before trying anything funny. Either way we win!" Yuki cackled.

"..." said Shino.

"Shino's right, Yuki! You should check the real camera anyway just in case. What if he finds it?" said Kiba. Yuki flipped her hair dismissively.

"I know, I know," she muttered, flipping her cell phone up.

_Plink, plink, plink_ went the camera pieces as Orochimaru slowly advanced upon the trembling blonde. "Trying to spy on me, Uzumaki?" he asked softly. He was smiling now, a smile that was half a smirk and filled with nothing but bad things. Hs golden eyes were lustful and glinted harshly in the flourescent lights of the classroom. "That's not very nice."

Naruto was beginning to hyperventilate. Orochimaru was much too close.

_What you trying to do, punk?_

_You think you can save people?_

_Let's see if you can save yourself, ne?_

A stranger coming closer.

An older man.

How many?

Five? Six?

It didn't matter.

_I cannot escape._

He closed his eyes as his knees gave out, breathing fast and shallow. Orochimaru took his chance and swooped down on the boy, pinning him to a desk and kissing him harshly and madly, grasping his wrists so tightly they were already becoming bruised.

And Naruto didn't do a thing to stop it. Inside his heart and mind were crying out, begging Orochimaru to stop, screaming at the top of their figurative lungs, cursing his body for responding. The man's long tongue caressed Naruto's mouth, his neck, his collarbone. Strong fingers popped the buttons off the blonde's shirt. Silent tears leaked out of glazed blue eyes.

Yuki couldn't remember the code to direct the images taken by the spy camera to the cell phone.

Gaara was panicking internally. Kiba was panicking externally. The others were off fetching the teachers.

Orochimaru's hands wandered farther south. He whispered silky, degrading words to the teen, voice like poisoned honey, fingers sliding below the waistband of Naruto's pants...

Naruto wanted to die.

He didn't care anymore.

He didn't want this.

Please, god, just let him die...

"NARUTO!!!" The door flew off its hinges and Tsunade stormed in, followed closely by several teachers and the students. They took in the entire situation in less than a second--Naruto's ripped shirt, his tear-stained face, Orochimaru's hand down the blonde's pants--and lost it. Yuki, Kiba and Sasuke commenced beating the shit out of the pedophile, screaming obscenities while Jiraiya, Shikamaru, Shino, and Tsunade tried to hold them back. Kakashi was outside calling the police, and Iruka was trying to console Naruto.

"NO!!! Get away from me!!!! I don't want this!!!" he screamed, curling up in a ball and holding his head in his hands. Iruka worriedly tried to reach out to the screaming boy, only to have his hand swatted viciously away.

"Naruto, it's me, it's only me," whispered Iruka. Naruto shook his head wildly, blue eyes so wide open the teacher could see the whites all around that small dot of cerulean.

"Get away from me. You're all the same. You're all the same!" Naruto cried. Iruka backed away uncertainly, not sure what to do.

Gaara stared at the shivering boy on the floor in a semi-stupified horror. There was lump in his throat he could not swallow away; his eyes were starting to burn; his heart was pumping a million miles an hour. He couldn't bear to see Naruto like this. Squaring his shoulders with an only barely perceptible shudder, he pushed past Iruka and scooped Naruto into his arms without missing a beat.

"No!!! Let go of me! Let go--" Gaara squeezed Naruto tightly against his chest in what he hoped was a caring embrace. It certainly didn't seem that way at first, if the way Naruto was bawling and beating at the redhead's chest with his small fists. But eventually the sobs subsided to hiccups, and Naruto was hugging Gaara for all he was worth.

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The harsh glare of flourescent lights beat down on the hallway of the infirmary. Everyone had gone home for the day, except for those involved in the Orochimaru incedent. Tsunade, Shizune, Iruka, Jiraiya, and Kakashi were busy tending to Naruto and discussing how to avoid too much press coverage and get a new Science teacher. The kids were wandering the halls haphazardly, occasionally checking up on the sleeping blonde. Gaara rounded a corner and spotted Yuki sitting on the bench outside the nurse's office, knees drawn to her chest and head in her arms.

"How's he doing?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"Asleep...sedatives...no real physical injury," she said in a muffled voice. Gaara exhaled inaudibly and crossed his arms.

"And you?"

"I'll live. I'm not the one who got attacked."

"You almost look like it."

A sigh, this time from Yuki. "I feel so bad about everything. It's my fault Orochimaru got that far in the first place. I broke my promise to Naruto; and myself."

"..." Gaara stayed silent, a question on his lips. He knew that Yuki would answer it sooner or later.

"I promised I wouldn't let anything bad happen to him ever again. And look what happened; he almost got raped by a fucking pedophile. And it's my fault."

"It's Orochimaru's fault."

Yuki gripped her knees harder. "I'm not much better than him."

"At least you didn't try to rape small boys."

A dry laugh. "Do you know why I made that promise, to Naruto and myself? Because in middle school we got picked on every day, and I never helped Naruto in the slightest."

Silence on Gaara's part.

"We were the black sheep of the school. Getting picked on every day was nothing new at all. We weren't friends exactly; we'd glance at each other in the hall, walk side by side if we happened to be headed in the same direction; but that was it.

"I'd always see Naruto getting beaten up by some of the boys in our class, and even some of the girls; but I never stopped to defend him. I'd look at him and walk away, pretending I hadn't seen anything. And when he'd come to school the next day with a black eye or a cut lip, I'd feel an overwhelming twinge of guilt."

Yuki shuddered and drew in a wet breath. "And then it happened."

"What happened?" asked Gaara in a low voice.

"...A bunch of upperclassmen ganged up on me one day. They were mad, I'm sure of it; their eyes looked crazy, and they were pulling knives. It was the worst beating I'd ever gotten--they cut my hair, hit me, kicked me, cut me up." Unconsciously, her hand strayed upwards and gripped her shoulder hard. "And while they beat on me I saw Naruto out of the corner of my eye, staring at us. I knew he wouldn't help. I didn't blame him for it. After all, I'd never helped him, had I?

"The funny thing is, he _did_ help. He ran right up to those guys and shouted in their faces. So they started to whale on him as well. They tried to...to..." Yuki swallowed painfully. "...tried to do what Orochimaru did. And he was so scared. And I don't know what happened, but for the first time ever I helped him. I suddenly just looked him straight in the eye and smiled, told him we could beat them together. And we did." Yuki raised her face, smiling a little, but sadly. "We've been friends ever since. And I made a promise then and there; that I'd always be there for Naruto, and I'd protect him no matter what."

"...I think you did protect him. Just like that day when...he _almost_ got raped. It's the exact same thing you did for him today. And I'm sure he knows that too," Gaara offered. Yuki smiled as Sasuke and the others joined them in the hall.

"I hope so."

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A/N: holy shit that was a whole lot of nothing.

I really don't like this chapter at all. It's too long, too boring, too cliche, and too OOC. Please, round up a firing squad to end this once and for all.

-headdesk- please review. I know I don't deserve it, but...

Next Chapter: Aftermath: We Can Never See The Darkness At Our Backs


	12. Chapter 10

A/N: -headdesk- I don't own Naruto, only this fanfic.

Sorry for the late update, and sorry this chapter is so short. ;A; I was recently inspired (lol today actually :D) by an anonymous reviewer (JAIMIE ARE YOU OUT THERE?! ARE YOU READING THIS?? CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?!) who reviewed on EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER. I was surprised, I was amazed, I wanted to cry tears of joy. It makes me sad that I can't contact you directly, but all the same, this is partly for you, babe.

Chapter Ten: Aftermath: We Can Never See The Darkness At Our Backs

It was a proven fact, Gaara mused, that when one faced the sun he could always outrun his shadow. But it did nothing to erase the surprise he felt at Naruto's quick recovery from his attempted rape.

Only a little over a month ago Naruto had been a nervous wreck, jumping at the slightest sounds and fearing large crowds of people, making school absolute torture for him. It was actually uncomfortable to be around him, because no one was used to seeing Naruto in such a state, and it unnerved them.

Now, however, Naruto was back to his old self, albeit a bit more guarded and less amiable towards being touched. Hell, when Sai groped his ass the day before yesterday Naruto panicked and threw him through a wall (it was a very thin wall, but still). Sai then complained that the blonde never threw _Gaara_ through a wall whenever he was touched by him.

Gaara blinked at his ceiling. The pale kid had a point. Ever since the Orochimaru fiasco it seemed as though Naruto was just clinging to him even more, despite the fact that he hated being touched by everyone else.

He sighed and sat upright, scratching his head absentmindedly. He was supposed to be hosting a planning party for the Konoha Festival today, but he really didn't feel up to it at the moment. He was tired beyond belief, but plain old fatigue wouldn't stop the kids of Konoha High. Maybe he could just pretend that he wasn't home when they came...

"Hey Gaara," said a cheery voice to his immediate right. Gaara's eyes widened as he whipped his head around to find the source of the interruption.

It was Naruto, grinning widely. Hanging out the window.

The second-floor window.

"...How did you get outside my window," said Gaara finally, phrasing it more as a statement rather than a question.

"We made a human ladder," replied Naruto easily. "Kiba wanted to check your room just in case you were trying to hide from us." Naruto looked down. "He's here, guys! You can use the front door!"

"Woot!" barked Kiba's voice. "Here we come!"

Gaara sighed inaudibly. "Come in then, we don't want you falling out the window." He tugged at Naruto's shirt, helping him clamber inside as the doorbell began ringing insistently. Gaara grumbled to himself as he descended the stairs, trailed by a happy and ever-babbling Naruto. He all but wrenched the door open and grunted as a way of inviting everyone in.

"Damn Gaara, you're pretty well off," said Kiba, whistling appreciatively at the size of Gaara's house. It wasn't a mansion, but it was relatively big, with two floors, four bedrooms, a living room and a dining room, and a large kitchen. The walls were painted sandy beige and a somewhat muted red that matched Gaara's hair perfectly.

Shino, Lee, Neji, Sakura, Sasuke, and Ino trailed in after him, greeting the tattooed boy politely (or in Sasuke's case, grunting noncommittally).

"Where's Yuki?" asked Gaara, noting the absence of the red-haired ball of energy.

"Home sick with the flu," said Sasuke, shaking his head. "And by home, I mean my room. Goddamn brother kicked me out and put her there. I'm gonna have to goddamn fumigate my room when she gets better." The brunette descended into a low rant filled with unprintable, unspeakable words. Gaara thought it best if he was left alone for the moment.

"Don't worry about her; she already knows what she has to do for the festival. And you know her, she'll bounce right back and work twice as hard to make up for it," said Ino, waving her hand. Gaara nodded and gestured towards the interior of his house.

"We can talk in here..." he mumbled, leading the ragtag band of teenagers into a spacious living room.

"What? Why can't we just go in your room?" whined Kiba. Gaara turned on his heel and glared.

"You think I'm going to have you guys messing around in my ROOM? Think again," he snarled, making Kiba cringe. Naruto laughed and slung an arm around Gaara cheerfully.

"Aww, c'mon, we're not THAT bad, are we?" giggled the blonde. Gaara raised an invisible eyebrow in an "oh-yes-you-are-that-bad-and-more" way.

"Just...go," he sighed, waving towards the plush sofa and chairs littered haphazardly around the coffee table. "I'll get some...chips or something."

"Bring some booze too!" yelled Kiba. Gaara unleashed yet another harsh glare, effectively making Kiba whine and duck for cover behind Shino.

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Five bags of chips, two gallons of milk, and approximately OVERNINETHOUSAND (1) glares later, a group of exhausted teenagers in various states of happiness and decay had finally decided on the activities that would be offered at the Konoha Festival.

"So we're having a shooting range, a karaoke booth, and performances by the school band..." mused Naruto, pulling on a short blonde pigtail.

(A bit of background information: prior to this little excursion, Sakura had bought small packs of colorful barrettes in case things got boring. Seeing how Sasuke was an uptight bastard, Shino wouldn't let her within ten inches of him, Kiba was too wild, Gaara was too homicidal, and Neji was too...Neji, that left Naruto and Ino as victims, and Sakura and Lee as the budding hair stylists.

Thus, Ino's long blonde hair was adorned with cute heart barrettes and pinned up in a semi-ponytail, while Naruto's hair was pulled into several pigtails and his bangs were clipped off to the side with butterfly clips of every color.

Gaara thought this was extremely cute.)

"What about a haunted house?" asked Kiba, absentmindedly playing with the hem of Shino's jacket.

"Uh-uh, the senior classes do that one, you know that..." said Sakura, readjusting a clip she'd put in Lee's shiny black hair.

"All right then, it's settled. Our work here is done," stated Neji calmly, standing up and stretching. "We'll have school days for putting it all together, but in the meantime I will begin planning for the materials we'll need and the designs of the booths."

"Good man, Neji!" grinned Kiba happily, clapping the pale-eyed boy on the back hard. "Just you wait, this'll be the best Konoha High Festival you've ever seen!"

"I'm sure," said Neji dryly. "Come, we should stop imposing on Gaara. We've done what we had to do. Thank you once again for your hospitality, Gaara." He bowed slightly and the redheaded boy inclined his head in reply. One by one, the teens filtered out until only Gaara and Naruto were left.

"You're not leaving?"

"Nope, I've got nothing better to do," pouted Naruto, fussing with one of his clips. "I was hoping I could stay here tonight? You know, a sleepover?"

Gaara sighed. There had been a lot of those since the Orochimaru fiasco. But it seemed to take a great deal off the blonde's mind, so Gaara always agreed.

"Sure, whatever. Make sure you call Tsunade and tell her where you are. I don't want any more frenzied phone calls at three AM because she doesn't know where you've gone." The blonde giggled and scampered off to the kitchen to call the busty woman. Gaara flopped onto the couch and sighed again.

Things between him and Naruto had been better than most during the aftermath of the attempted rape, but that's not to say it hadn't been rough on both of them. Naruto, because he was afraid of being touched, and Gaara, because a lot of the time he desperately wanted to touch him. It didn't exactly help that he was the person the blonde clung to the most, and he had to constantly watch where he put his hands. He didn't want to end up like Sai, after all.

_Goddammit,_ thought Gaara. _I want to touch him. I want to kiss him. I want him to say it's all right. Why me? Why did he choose me of all people to comfort him? He could have picked Yuki, or Neji, or Sasuke and his brother, or any of the other people he's known for far longer. I want to touch him. I want him. I want I want I want--_

"You okay, Gaara?" asked Naruto, walking into the room and seeing Gaara with his face buried in his hands.

"Why me?"

"What?"

"Why did you choose me? Why aren't you scared when I get close to you, when we bump by accident, when anything happens? Why aren't you scared of me?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side, then sat on the arm of the sofa and rested his head on Gaara's shoulder.

"You're so close to me," he said, smiling a little. "You and I are so much alike. I know you won't hurt me. You take my fears away." Gaara lifted his head and met Naruto's azure stare, faces just an inch apart. He could feel his heart speed up just a little bit.

"You take my fears away," murmured Naruto, closing the gap and pressing his lips gently against Gaara's.

_You take my fears away._

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A/N: (1) The cliche'd OVER NINE THOUSAND exaggeration, ha ha. :D LOLSHOOTMEPLZ.

That last line, "You take my fears away"...that applies to both Gaara and Naruto, if it makes any sense at all. It probably doesn't. (Even though Naruto says it, both are thinking it? Is that any clearer? OTL)

I apologize if you were offended in any way by the juvenile writing style or the abominable OOC-ness portrayed here. Flames are most certainly welcome. I have yet to get any!! People, flame away! Reviews are most welcome as well.

Next Chapter: I want to hold you in my arms and never let go.

I don't know if it will contain smut or not.


	13. Chapter 11

A/N: Um, okay, so I promised smut. It's not terribly graphic, but uh...it felt awkward writing it just the same. You can skip this, if you want. But seeing as how most fans of yaoi are in it for the smex, i doubt many will want to. But it doesn't take anything away from the story, really. Just fanservice XD;;

God I hope my parents don't walk in ;A;

Chapter 11: I want to hold you in my arms and never let go.

_Recap:_

_Naruto tilted his head to the side, then sat on the arm of the sofa and rested his head on Gaara's shoulder._

_"You're so close to me," he said, smiling a little. "You and I are so much alike. I know you won't hurt me. You take my fears away." Gaara lifted his head and met Naruto's azure stare, faces just an inch apart. He could feel his heart speed up just a little bit._

_"You take my fears away," murmured Naruto, closing the gap and pressing his lips gently against Gaara's._

_You take my fears away._

Oh man, here it was. The _touching, _the _kissing_ -- what he'd wanted for so long. Naruto's lips were intoxicating, like a drug or alcohol, only more pleasant. And without unwanted side effects.

Growling slightly in his throat, Gaara threaded his fingers in Naruto's hair, annoyed when the clips got in the way. He pulled Naruto down gently and deepened the kiss, tongue licking along the blonde's lips in order to gain permission to enter. After a few seconds Naruto opened his mouth and allowed the slick muscle to explore the cavern, to map out every inch of it. He moaned, grabbing fistfuls of Gaara's shirt in want. They broke apart shortly after, gasping for air.

"Are you sure...this is okay?" asked Gaara breathlessly, hands toying with the hem of Naruto's bright orange t-shirt. Naruto hesitated, pressing his forehead against Gaara's.

"Yeah," he murmured after a few seconds, kissing Gaara's tattoo. That was all the encouragement Gaara needed to pull Naruto upright and lead him clumsily up the stairs, discarding their shirts and kissing passionately along the way until they got to the older boy's bedroom.

The redhead allowed Naruto to push him down onto the plush bed, not wanting the other boy to feel trapped. Somewhere in the back of his mind he worried that Naruto would feel scared or threatened by the situation they were currently diving into. But he needn't have worried, if the way Naruto was hastily ridding the two of them of any form of clothing was any indication.

Soon they were naked as the day they were born, kissing fiercely, hands roaming over bare flesh. Gaara tried to rake his fingers through Naruto's soft hair, only to meet resistance.

"Fuck these clips," mumbled Gaara, trying to unclip them without looking. Naruto groaned impatiently and simply yanked them out, wincing when a few strands were

pulled from his scalp. Tossing them aside, he kissed Gaara gently, loving the feeling of the redhead's body.

This innocent action was somehow even more erotic than the heated foreplay Gaara had participated in thus far; before Naruto could even squeak in protest the blonde was flat on his back and Gaara was kissing his way down his torso.

"Nnngh...Gaara," panted Naruto, staring through half-lidded eyes at the fiery red locks brushing his tummy. "What are--oh god," he gasped as Gaara's mouth latched onto his manhood. The _things_ that boy was doing to him...it felt so good, so sinfully good. Gaara hummed, sending vibrations flowing from Naruto's groin area right up his spine, making him arch his back in pleasure. He panted harshly, threading his fingers through Gaara's hair as the redhead bobbed up and down slowly.

"Mmm...Gaara...I-I'm gonna..." gasped the blonde, toes curling into the sheets in ecstacy. Gaara released Naruto's erection with a wet 'pop', making the blonde shiver at the cold air that encircled his cock instead. He barely had time t think before Gaara's lips were on his again, gentle and chaste. It was a stark contrast to what that mouth had been doing moments before; an apology, of sorts, for the incredibly unpure actions of seven seconds past.

Everything seemed to be moving at twice the speed for Naruto. Barely ten minutes ago he had been fully clothed and waving goodbye to his friends. And now here he was, stark naked and writhing in pleasure beneath his best friend/crush/lover. How in the hell had they gone from the bench to third base so damn quickly? Not that he really minded, anyway. But his perception of time was really getting messed up.

Gaara placed three fingers in Naruto's mouth, startling the blonde out of his thoughts. "Suck," he said quietly, almost huskily. The smaller boy complied, coating the digits thoroughly in saliva. He had an idea where those slicked digits would be heading next.

He shut his eyes tightly, chasing away all those little doubts in the back of his mind. _Remember the last two times you were in a situation similar to this?_ they whispered. _Remember what was said, what was done? Remember Orochimaru?_

_No no no,_ he thought, tensing his entire body involuntarily. _I will not remember. I will not. It's over, it's done, and this is different--_

"Naruto?" whispered Gaara. The blonde opened watery blue eyes to look upon his lover's concerned, hesitant face. "I-If I'm going too fast, just tell me you're uncomfortable, or want me to stop..."

Stop?!

Oh no he didn't. He did _not_ just suggest stopping. Not when both boys still sported painfully obvious erections (with emphasis on 'pain'. It _hurt_ to be that hard). Naruto's lustful side took over and abruptly flung his doubts out of a 28-story building. He really did want this, to take this final step and give Gaara everything he had. He kissed his lover hard, pouring out all his trust and passion into that single firm touch. Gaara reciprocated, kissing back fiercely, dominating Naruto's mouth sweetly. While he kept Naruto busy with the kiss, he pushed one slightly damp finger into the boy's tight entrance. He winced when Naruto bit his tounge in surprise and squirmed in discomfort. After a few seconds another finger was added, thrusting and scissoring to stretch the boy. Naruto buried his face into the crook of Gaara's neck, making weird faces no one could see. It didn't really hurt, not much. But gosh, it felt weird.

When that third finger was added and began thrusting into his body, the blonde felt the first prickle of pain shoot up his spine. And damn if he didn't let Gaara know it too: he raked his nails right across the elder's back, leaving bright red lines on the pale skin. Not that Gaara really blamed him. Having three fingers shoved up your ass wasn't exactly the most pleasurable of experiences. Not unless you found that special spot, that is...

"Aaaahh!! Oh god, G...d-do that again..."

The redhead allowed himself a small grin of triumph. Found it.

He brushed his fingertips across Naruto's prostate twice more before pulling out, causing Naruto to whine in a curiously animalistic manner. It felt weird, being empty again.

Gaara was thinking fast. He didn't have lube of any sort nearby, and his sibling's rooms were too far away. He'd have to improvise. Grimacing slightly, he spat into his palm and rubbed it over his throbbing cock. Kind of disgusting, but it was going to be a lot better than nothing. Kissing Naruto one last time, he positioned himself at Naruto's entrance. "Are you ready?" he asked. Naruto swallowed hard and nodded, reaching up and nipping gently at Gaara's neck. "Do it," he whispered, voice full of love and longing and the tiniest bit of fear.

So he did. He threw caution to the wind and thrusted right into Naruto's small body.

Oh god, it hurt. It hurt so damn much. Naruto swallowed back several screams and settled instead for pained gasps of air. He gripped Gaara's shoulders tightly as his backside burned with pain. Gaara didn't bother waiting for Naruto to adjust to his size, opting for moving almost immediately in a slow yet steady rhythm. The more he moved, he reasoned, the faster Naruto would get used to him and start enjoying himself more.

Soon their bodies found a rhythm, and their hearts beat together, and they whispered each other's names as passion consumed them. Whispers turned to screams as they reached their climax together, and nothing in the world mattered except for the feel of their bodies against each other. Huddled under the rumpled blankets, breath mingling as they kissed one last time, they fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: IT'S DONE SOMEONE GOD PLEASE SHOOT ME.

It was so hard to write this!!

I hope people review so that I feel that I slaved over this for a reason, even if the final outcome wasn't all that good. ;A;

You'd think, that with all the smut I've read, I'd know how to write a decent lemon. -brick'd-


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